Grinding Parameters by Material: Stainless, Hardened Steel and Titanium

Grinding parameters do not come from a formula the way turning and milling do. They come from a table plus correction on the machine. This gathers four common material groups into one place: the general range for ordinary steel, the three stainless structures, carbide and hardened high-speed steel, and ultra-high-strength steel and titanium — each with wheel speed, work speed, rough and finish depth of cut, and a wheel recommendation.

1. Start from the general range, then adjust for material

With no special material requirement, these three sets are the starting point:

Two corrections that get missed: in cylindrical grinding, the larger the part diameter the lower the work speed; and slender shafts with a length-to-diameter ratio above 30 drop to 5–9 m/min, as do inherently unbalanced parts such as crankshafts. Only a rigid machine justifies working at the top of a range.

Reference values compiled from technical sources. Go by the maximum speed marked on the wheel, the machine specification and your own trial results; never exceed the marked speed.

2. Stainless: three structures, two parameter sets

Stainless is gummy and conducts heat poorly. What matters is not the structure name but whether the part is annealed or hardened — hardened means lower speed and less depth. Ordinary abrasive wheels:

Use white aluminium oxide (WA) or single-crystal grains, 46–60 grit, grade J–L, vitrified bond. A CBN wheel runs on a different set of speeds (the data cover hardened and tempered martensitic grades only): surface 25–35 rough and 20 finish, cylindrical 25–30, internal 25–40 m/s.

3. Carbide and hardened high-speed steel: ordinary wheels will not do it

This group needs superabrasives. With a diamond wheel on tungsten carbide, speed depends on the bond, and dry differs from wet:

Depth of cut follows the diamond grit: coarse (70/80–100/120) takes 0.01–0.015mm on a resin bond and 0.01–0.025mm on a metal bond; fine (120/140–200/230) takes 0.005–0.01mm on resin and 0.01–0.015mm on metal. The finer the grit, the less depth it will take — more useful than memorising the figures.

🔴 Carbide grinding runs far slower than ordinary steel (12–25 m/s against 35 m/s). Run it at ordinary-steel habits and you get wheel wear and workpiece cracks together. How to match diamond and CBN wheels is covered in Diamond or CBN Wheels: Abrasive, Bond, Grit, Concentration and Shape Codes.

4. Ultra-high-strength steel: hotter, and it leaves a hardened layer

With ultra-high-strength steel such as 300M the problem is not hardness but high grinding temperature plus a hardened surface layer. The measured comparison makes it clear: ordinary medium-carbon steel measured about 375 °C dry at 35 m/s and 0.04mm depth; 300M still reached about 438 °C even with speed cut to 18 m/s and depth halved to 0.02mm.

The hardened layer is the more interesting part:

🔴 Slower is not automatically safer — at 0.01mm depth, halving the wheel speed took the hardened layer from 10 μm to 18 μm. Suggested CBN ranges for surface grinding (above 50HRC): 28–40 m/s wet and 20 m/s dry; work speed 15–38 m/min; depth 0.025–0.05mm rough and ≤0.01mm finish.

5. Titanium: silicon carbide grains, and speeds across the board are low

Titanium conducts heat poorly and is chemically active, so its parameters sit a step below steel — and alpha-beta and beta grades take different numbers:

Use silicon carbide grains (C, GC), 46–80 grit, grade H–K, vitrified bond. With CBN the wheel speed rises to 30–40 m/s, while surface and cylindrical work speeds come down. For belt grinding titanium: GC or zirconia alumina 50–80 grit for roughing, GC 100–240 for finishing, resin bond, belt speed 5–13 m/s.

6. How to use these tables: three rules

1. A table is a starting point, not an answer. Take the middle of the range, run a trial, then correct by spark, sound and measurement.
2. Change depth before speed. Burn or cracks respond to less depth most directly; changing speed also changes finish and wheel wear.
3. Condition matters more than material name. The same stainless takes two different parameter sets annealed and hardened.

If the parameters are right and it still goes wrong, work back from the defect in Grinding Defects: Tracing Chatter, Burn, Cracks and Size Errors; for the fluid side see Choosing a Grinding Fluid: Oil or Water Based, Five Types and EP Additives. For why each section recommends the wheel it does, and how to judge a wheel yourself for another material or job, see Choosing Grinding Wheel Grit, Grade, Bond and Structure: Workpiece First, Then the Job, Then the Defect.

This article belongs to the line covered in Grinding Wheels and Machines: The Complete Guide - Reading the Wheel, Mounting It, Dressing It, and Tracing Defects, which shows where to start and where to go next.

Published: 2026-09-17｜Updated: 2026-10-24