SiC reacts heavily with many Al2O3 containing vitrified bonds leading to grit damage [TYRO03b]. Therefore, special bond types for SiC are applied.
Silicon carbide is known for wearing mainly by splintering in the medium FEPA size ranges. Instead of steady and slow wear by adhesions, abrasion or chemical mechanisms, SiC wears by breaking into bigger grit particles. In contrast, the tougher mono-crystalline corundum can sustain dynamical and sudden loads better,
like present in grinding of hardened bearing steels. Additionally, SiC wears dominantly anisotropic depending on the loaded crystal plane. Nevertheless, the wear behavior enables good self-sharpening abilities of the tool. Under small process loads such as for small chip thicknesses, SiC wears by tribochemical mechanisms, likely oxidation and silicization [LUDE94, p. 71].