Has Diamond Grinding Been A Cost Effective Pavement Preservation Treatment In Australia?

Australia introduced conventional longitudinal diamond grinding of highway concrete pavements in 2009 with the purchase of two "4‐foot" highway grinding machines by two contractors. The availability of these machines in Australia has enabled contractors to improve ride quality of new pavements, rather than accept a deduction to the tendered rate for the supply and placement of concrete pavement. Grinding of new concrete base is permitted up to an IRI of 3.5 m/km, thereby reducing the need to remove and replace concrete pavement which met the specified thickness, strength and density, but not ride quality. More importantly, with the introduction of the grinding machines, asset managers have the opportunity to use diamond grinding to treat existing concrete pavements that have a rough ride, or when the textured surface no longer meets specified levels for skid resistance. Although the primary use of diamond grinding was to improve ride quality of new and existing concrete pavements, it has also been used to: treat stepping across transverse contraction joints in PCP, improve skid resistance at roundabouts, improve both ride quality and texture for JRCP pavements (greater than 40 years of age) with a thin wearing course and spalling in the asphalt at transverse joints. The above treatments to concrete pavement allow asset preservation and avoid high reconstruction costs. The Austroads concrete pavement design procedure is based on the PCA design method and road smoothness is not a design parameter, unlike the USA approach to concrete pavement design where ride quality is a design input. There is still much work to be done to convince asset managers in Australia that the removal of the high areas of a concrete pavement to smooth the surface, reduces the dynamic wheel loading and minimises accumulated fatigue stress in the concrete. This paper reviews the last 10 years of diamond grinding projects and the success of this pavement preservation treatment for new and existing urban and rural concrete pavements in Australia. Recommendations to reduce the cost of diamond grinding concrete pavements and extend the use of this treatment are also provided.

MODIFICATION OF HEAT-RESISTANT OXIDES AND CHLORIDES OF GRAIN SURFACES OF SYNTHETIC DIAMOND GRINDING POWDERS FOR APPLICATION IN GRINDING TOOLS

Further development of modern technologies of diamond processing is connected with application in the diamond tool of powders with new unique properties, special morphology of grains, with the increased chemical and thermal stability. To increase the heat resistance of diamonds, they are covered with a metal (metallization) or glass-ceramic layer, or introduced into the reaction mixture used in the synthesis of diamonds, alloying additives of certain elements. Recently, other methods of coating to increase the heat resistance of diamonds have been developed, such as: vacuum ion-plasma sputtering, epitaxial synthesis, magnetron sputtering, the method of liquid-phase deposition. The latter method is promising for modifying the grain surface of grinding powders of superhard materials by heat-resistant inorganic non-metallic coatings, as it is the most economically advantageous. Determining the features of the technology of modification by the method of liquid-phase application of heat-resistant inorganic coatings (oxides and chlorides of metals and nonmetals) on the surface of grains of grinding powders of synthetic diamond brand AC6, used for grinding tools in mechanical engineering. Modification was performed by the isothermal method of liquid-phase application of saturated solutions of both heat-resistant oxides (В2О3, Al2O3), chlorides (СаСl2, NaCl, MgCl2, FeCl3), and their mixtures (В2О3+СаСl2, В2О3+NaCl). Based on the analysis of the results of the research, it can be stated that the application of coatings of inorganic substances (some oxides and chlorides) increases the heat resistance of synthetic diamond grinding powders. Modification allows to reduce expenses of diamonds in wheels at grinding. Conditions for modification of heat-resistant oxides and chlorides, as well as their mixtures, grain surface of synthetic diamond grinding powders are determined. Modification of the surface of diamond grains with a combination of B2O3+Al2O3 is guaranteed to double the wear resistance of diamond wheels. It is established that in all cases of modification the roughness of the parameter Ra decreases. It is determined that by changing the surface modifier of diamond grains it is possible to affect the bearing capacity of the rough surface obtained by grinding. The development of effective ways to increase the heat resistance of grinding powders made of superhard materials, primarily abrasive grinding powders made of synthetic diamond powders, helps to improve the quality of the grinding tool.

Special Device for Diamond Grinding of the Backup Surfaces and Perimeter of Articles from Nonmetallic Ceramic Materials

In developed countries, material scientists are working intensively to create high-strength (metallic) technical ceramics. If such a material is created, it will be possible to manufacture such parts of power units (transmissions) of cars as shafts, turbines, etc. In the future, the latest composite ceramic materials with unique properties will gradually replace metals in the production of machine parts. Special device for diamond grinding of articles from composite, non-metallic, brittle materials (technical ceramics on the base of SiC, Al2O3; polycrystalline diamond, composite – Si + SiC + diamond etc.) is a universal flat grinding machine that enables to grind with high productivity both supporting main surfaces and lateral side surfaces – perimeter of an article of prismatic shape. It is also possible to grind substrates of other configurations – round, oval, etc. Grinding depending on sizes of articles can be done of both single and group of articles. The grinding takes place by the means of spring feeding of the article by pneumatic system that enables to prevent breakage of articles from brittle non-metallic materials in process of machining and obtain maximum high quality of the machined surface.

Diamond Grinding Technology of Flexural Strength Test Pieces of Super hard, Brittle, Composite-ceramic Materials and Technological Equipment

At the present stage of the revolutionary development of technologies, scientists from the leading countries of the world are working intensively to create qualitatively new materials whose physical-mechanical, electrical, thermal or other properties far exceed the basic constructions, armament or other metals used. Such materials are surface, brittle, composite ceramic materials (based on oxide and carbide ceramics, state-of-the-art surface compositions, polycrystalline diamond + Si  SiC and etc.). A progressive process for diamond grinding test samples from composite ceramic materials to determine the bending strength is discussed. The proposed technological process is based on an original and effective method for polishing the flat surfaces of articles made of difficult-to-process and composite materials - low-temperature precision grinding (LPG). Based on the results of many years and multilateral studies in the field of diamond processing of various non-metallic, composite and ceramic materials, optimum conditions for diamond polishing of mentioned materials have been determined and recommended. Technological equipment and equipment for processing composite and ceramic materials are also disclosed.