The year 2018 was successful for the Scientific Technical Committee STC “G”. Forty-nine people attended the STC G winter meeting in Paris in February, and fifty-seven people attended Part II of the STC G meeting held at the 68th General Assembly in Tokyo, Japan, in August.

Highlights of the STC G winter meeting in Paris included eight technical contributions, one laboratory presentation, and status updates of the 2018 and 2019 keynote papers. The topics of the technical contributions included thermal aspects of internal grinding of plaque in atherectomy, ultra-small micro pencil grinding tools, high speed grinding of tungsten-carbide, tool cleaning in gear grinding, stochastic modelling of high performance dry grinding, force modelling in wire grinding, new CMP slurries for polishing of soft-brittle crystals and alloys, and surface finishing of biodegradable stents. In the laboratory-presentation, an overview of the research in the area of abrasive processes at the new Leibniz Institute for Materials Engineering (IWT) in Bremen, Germany, was introduced. The progress of the 2018 and 2019 keynote papers was presented, and the contents were all approved. It was also approved that a proposal for the 2020 keynote paper “Interaction of Grinding Tool and Supplied Fluid” will be forwarded to the Liaison Committee as a future STC G keynote paper. A brainstorming was installed to identify future keynote topics. Mr. Wegener, Chairman of STC G, encouraged the audience to present contributions in the next STC G meeting in Part II of the 68th General Assembly in Tokyo in August 2018. Any abrasive-related topics were welcome.

The STC G contributions to Part I of the 68th General Assembly in Tokyo included a keynote paper entitled “Fixed Abrasive Machining of Non-Metallic Materials” presented by Mr. Shih, and 11 regular papers. The keynote paper summarized advancements in fixed abrasive machining of non-metallic materials, such as reinforced concretes, stones, rocks, carbon fiber reinforced plastic, metal and ceramic matrix composites, wood-fiber plastic composite, biomaterials and structural and electronic ceramics. The broad impacts, diverse applications, and innovations of fixed abrasive machining processes were presented and industrial perspectives and future research enabling new processes and improving the productivity were highlighted. The keynote paper was well received. The regular papers presented covered a broad range of topics, including thermal modelling of interrupted grinding, modelling of grain wear, laser-assisted grinding of silicon nitride parts, surface layer modification charts for gear grinding, inertial active dampers in centerless grinding, a new patterning system for vitrified CBN wheels, truing of diamond wheels, nanometer-scale polishing of polycrystalline ceramics, plasma-assisted polishing of diamond wafer, multi-jet polishing of freeform surfaces, and ultrasonic cavitation assisted fluid jet polishing.

Highlights of the STC G meeting in Part II of the 68th General Assembly in Tokyo included nine technical contributions, status updates of the 2019 and 2020 keynote papers, and two proposals for future keynote papers. The topics of the technical contributions included grinding wheel motion inside a curved blood vessel, kinematic simulation of micro grinding, design of textured abrasive tools, model-based manufacturing of grinding tools, meshless methods for simulation of single grain cutting, effects of material loads during grinding, energy partition in interrupted grinding, analysis of grinding-cycle in centerless grinding, and a shear-thickening polishing method. Lively discussions of the presentations were, as always, part of the meeting. The success of the 2018 keynote paper was acknowledged. The progress of the 2019 and 2020 keynote papers was presented, and the contents were all approved. Topics for two future keynote papers were proposed, and both initiatives were very much appreciated. The proposers were encouraged to present further progress of their proposals in the next winter meeting in February 2019, according to the comments and advice received in the discussion. Mr. Wegener, Chairman of STC G, encouraged the audience to present contributions in the next winter meeting in Paris in February 2019. Any abrasive-related topics will be welcome.

Konrad Wegener, Chairman, STC G, 29th of October 2018