In almost all cases abrasive wheels have a limited useful life which will depend to a large extent on the material and the support structure that the manufacturers have used for its production.
Generally, wheels are made with grain compounds with abrasive properties such as natural or synthetic aluminum oxide, or silicon carbide among others; However, over time these materials lose their abrasive or abrasive properties on other surfaces to the point of not being as efficient as they could be at the time of their manufacture.
Knowing precisely the period of validity of the same one is usually complex since they take part a series of external factors that tend to accelerate the time of expiration of the disc (storage, humidity, temperature, use, etc.). An abrasive wheel as such could deliver its optimum operating point for 3 or 4 years in “standard” environmental conditions, but as mentioned earlier this time could be shorter depending on the changes that the environment could experience.
Another factor that must be considered is the structural support material that maintains the shape of the wheel. These supports are usually very varied such as paper, cloth (cotton or polyester), combinations between paper and cloth, metal, or fiber. All these materials are subject to wear and tear due to use or storage conditions. Additionally, the aggregate loses its adherent properties over time which would lead to the collapse or rupture of the wheel in full use.
But, how can I know when my abrasive wheel expires? … Image 1 shows us the most common way that different manufacturers offer us to know an estimate of useful life.

Image 1. Expiration date of an abrasive wheel.

In general, each manufacturer uses the metal ring located in the center of the wheel to indicate the expiration date. As you can see in the image, the letter “V” is capitalized to the expiration date which in this example would be September 2025 (V09-2025).
Similarly, if the information is not present in the central ring, it can be located on the label of the product always preceded by the letter “V”, the same thing would happen if the wheel does not have a central ring. However, if the expiration date is not specified, the material on the disc does not expire.