The year 2022 was successful for the Scientific Technical Committee STC "G". Fifty-seven people attended the STC G Winter Meeting in February, and fifty-eight people attended the STC G meeting held in Bilbao, Spain, during Part II of the 71st General Assembly in August. The Winter Meeting was held as an e-meeting due to the pandemic and the General Assembly in a hybrid format (online and in person).
Highlights of the STC G Winter Meeting included six technical contributions, one laboratory presentation, and status updates for the 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 keynote papers. The topics of the technical contributions included magnetic-assisted finishing of slender holes on quartz glass, edge roll-off generation during polishing, a finishing process using flexible diamond-coated foams, model-based digital thread for grinding processes, diamond scribing and grinding of ceramic matrix composites, and a modelling of the cooling effects in tool grinding. In the laboratory presentation, Mrs. Macerol from Element Six presented an overview of new developments in engineering synthetic diamonds and new superabrasive materials and activities carried out at the Element Six Global Innovation Center (GIC), near Oxford, UK. She mentioned that Element Six has invested significantly in test methods for grain characterization, processing, and tool performance evaluation. Mr. Beaucamp presented the progress of the 2022 keynote paper, which was submitted to the Editorial Committee in November 2021. The progress of the 2023, 2024, and 2025 keynote papers was presented, and the contents were all approved. It was also approved that the above-mentioned keynote papers be forwarded to the Liaison Committee as future STC G keynote papers. The contents and the timeline of the above-mentioned keynote papers were approved. For the 2024 keynote paper, the change in the lead author from Mr. Bergs to Mr. Krajnik was proposed and approved. The appointment of Mr. Krajnik as the STC G section editor for the new CIRP Encyclopedia initiative, CIRP Novel Topics in Production Engineering (CNTPE), was approved. An overview of the new initiative was presented by Mr. Tolio and Mr. Krajnik. It was decided that a call for essays would be sent by the secretary of the STC G by e-mail. The received proposals would be presented and discussed during the 2022 CIRP General Assembly Part II, and the selected proposals would be sent to the Editorial Board of the CNTPE.
The STC G contributions to Part I of the 71st General Assembly included eleven regular papers and the keynote paper entitled “Advances in grinding tools and abrasives” presented by Mr. Beaucamp. The keynote paper provided a comprehensive review, including a critical analysis of the advances and developments in basic tool technology (structure, binder, and abrasives) and the advent of smart tools, process hybridization, and process monitoring. An outlook for further energy savings, tool recycling and uses of additive manufacturing with the aim of achieving long-term sustainability was also provided. The keynote paper was well received. The regular papers presented covered a wide range of topics, including chemical mechanical polishing, grinding of ultrahard ceramic matrix composite (CMC), viscoelastic polishing tools, bronze-bonded diamond grinding wheels, a test method of the wheel wear of bonded-abrasive tools, modeling for wheel active surface prediction, mechanics of self-rotating double-disc grinding process, tool and metalworking fluid interaction, part surface integrity in high-speed grinding, reduction of energy flow into workpiece in continuous generating grinding, and an adaptive human-robot collaboration for robotic grinding of complex workpieces.
Highlights of the STC G meeting in Part II of the 71st General Assembly included six technical contributions and status updates of the 2023, 2024, and 2025 keynote papers. The topics of the technical contributions included polishing of hardened steel components, magnetic field-assisted batch superfinishing of medical devices, use of artificial intelligence in cam-lobe grinding, data-driven improvement of dressing technology, self-learning process adaptation for tool grinding, and the effect of heat-treatment on grinding burn limit. Lively discussions of the presentations were, as always, part of the meeting. The success of the 2022 keynote paper was recognized. The progress of the 2023, 2024 and 2025 keynote papers was presented, and the contents were all approved. Special modifications included a new title for the 2023 keynote paper “Grinding of Composite Materials” and the change in the lead author of the 2024 keynote paper from T. Bergs to P. Krajnik. Potential topics from STC G for the CNTPE were discussed. Mr. Wegener proposed an essay topic “Intelligent Grinding,” and it was approved. It was also approved that the topic be submitted to the CNTPE Editorial Board. Mrs. Yamaguchi, Chairwoman of STC G, encouraged the audience to present technical contributions in the next Winter Meeting in February 2023, especially in the fields covered by the future keynote papers. Any abrasive-related topics will be welcome. In addition, she encouraged the audience to propose essay topics for the CNTPE and present them in the next Winter Meeting.
Hitomi Yamaguchi, Chairwoman, STC G, 27th of October 2022