Grinding wheel

Abstract

A grinding wheel for grinding a workpiece containing a ductile material, the grinding wheel including an annular wheel base having a fixed end adapted to be fixed to a lower end of a spindle and having a free end adapted to face the workpiece to be ground, and a plurality of grindstones each shaped as a rectangular plate, disposed on the free end of the annular wheel base, and arrayed at predetermined intervals with respective longer sides disposed along circumferential directions of the wheel base. Each of the grindstones includes an electroformed grindstone shaped as a rectangular plate and made up of abrasive grains secured together by nickel plating, and has a thickness of 1 mm or smaller and a value ranging from 5 inclusive to 35 exclusive that is represented by a ratio of a height from the free end to the thickness.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A grinding wheel for grinding a workpiece containing a ductile material, the grinding wheel comprising:
 an annular wheel base having a fixed end adapted to be fixed to a lower end of a spindle and having a free end adapted to face the workpiece to be ground; and   a plurality of grindstones each shaped as a rectangular plate, disposed on the free end of the annular wheel base, and arrayed at predetermined intervals with respective longer sides disposed along circumferential directions of the wheel base,   wherein each of the grindstones includes an electroformed grindstone shaped as a rectangular plate and made up of abrasive grains secured together by nickel plating, and has a thickness of 1 mm or smaller and a value ranging from 5 inclusive to 35 exclusive that is represented by a ratio of a height from the free end to the thickness.   
     
     
         2 . The grinding wheel according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the thickness of each of the rectangular, plate-shaped grindstones is 0.5 mm or smaller.   
     
     
         3 . The grinding wheel according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the workpiece contains resin as the ductile material on a surface thereof to be ground by the grinding wheel.   
     
     
         4 . The grinding wheel according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the workpiece contains metal as the ductile material on a surface thereof to be ground by the grinding wheel.