Impact Resistance of Guards on Grinding Machines

Guards on machine tools are meant to protect persons from injuries caused by parts ejected with high kinetic energy from the machine’s working zone. With respect to stationary grinding machines, Standard No. EN 13218:2002, therefore, specifies minimum wall thicknesses for guards. These values are mainly based on estimations and experience instead of systematic experimental investigations. This paper shows to what extent simple impact tests with standardizable projectiles can be used as basis for the evaluation of the impact resistance of guards, provided that not only the kinetic energy of the projectiles used but also, among others, their geometry corresponds to the abrasive product fragments to be expected.