Grinding is a process in which small abrasive particles imbedded in a grinding wheel, belt, cylinder, or stone accomplish material removal. Grinding is ordinarily used only for removing small amounts of material at a time. Grinding permits very accurate tolerances of 0.001" or less, and allows for very smooth surface finishes.

Creep Feed Grinding is a surface grinding operation performed in a single pass with an unusually large depth of cut. There are two main classes of applications: grinding of deep slots with parallel sides; and grinding of profiles, including especially those applications featuring high depth-to-width ratios and those with profiles to be ground in difficult-to-grind materials. Turbine blades made of superalloys are an important application of creep feed grinding of profiles. KEYWORDS for this process: grinders