This study reports the grinding characteristics of quartz. Grinding experiments were performed at various grinding conditions including wheel mesh, table speed and depth of cut. The grinding forces and specific grinding energies were measured. Surface roughness was also measured with tracer and the ground surfaces were observed with SEM. A new parameter SDR(Surface roughness Direction Ratio) is proposed to characterize the grinding mechanisms of quartz. A set of experiments was performed to verify the effectiveness of the suggested parameter. The experimental results indicate that the ductile mode is the dominant material removal mode at the grinding conditions which show the higher value of SDR whereas the material is removed by brittle fracture in a lower value of SDR value increases with wheel mesh size.