Fracture Characteristics of Used Abrasive Cut-off Wheels: Normal Wear vs. Catastrophic Failure

Used abrasive cut-off wheels that were alleged to have failed catastrophically during use were submitted for evaluation of this claim. The subject cut-off wheels were 4.5" diameter resin-bonded with aluminum oxide abrasive and fiberglass mesh reinforcement, typically used to cut carbon and stainless steels using hand-held grinders. Exemplar wheels were produced representing the conditions of normal use (wear), and catastrophic failure during use (fracture). The condition of the subject and exemplar wheels were examined using optical microscopy and SEM/EDS to identify the characteristics of the subject, exemplar wear, and exemplar fracture wheel conditions. Unique characteristics of the different exemplar conditions were compared to the conditions of the subject wheel to determine the probable usage conditions of the subject wheels.