Results of temperature measurements by analysis of the thermal emission spectra generated during grinding and subsequently transmitted through partially stabilised zirconia workpieces are presented. Portions of emitted visible and near-infrared spectra were collected with spectrometers. Source temperatures were determined by fitting the scaled spectrometer output spectra to blackbody curves. Simulations showed that the effective temperatures determined by this method will be strongly biased toward hot spot (flash) temperatures, which are expected to occur at the grinding grit-workpiece interface. Hot-spot temperatures on the order of 3000K were obtained for grinding with both SiC and diamond wheels. These high temperatures modify the grinding process and the phase content of grinding chips.
