Wear mechanism of metal bond diamond wheels trued by wire electrical discharge machining

The stereographic scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging was used to investigate the wear mechanism in wire electrical discharge machining (EDM) truing of metal bond diamond wheels for ceramic grinding. A piece of the grinding wheel was removed after truing and grinding to enable the examination of wheel surface and measurement of diamond protrusion heights using a SEM and stereographic imaging software. The stereographic SEM imaging method was calibrated by comparing with the profilometer measurement results. On the wheel surface after wire EDM truing and before grinding, some diamond grain protruding heights were measured in the 32 μm level. Comparing to the 54 μm average size of the diamond grain, this indicated that over half of the diamond was exposed. During the wire EDM process, electrical sparks occur between the metal bond and EDM wire, which leaves the diamond protruded in the gap between the wire electrode and wheel. These protruding diamond grains with weak bond to the wheel were fractured under a light grinding condition. After heavy grinding, the diamond protrusion heights were estimated in the 5–15 μm range above the wear flat. A cavity created by grinding debris erosion wear of the wheel bond could be identified around the diamond grain.     

Ultra-precision ductile grinding of BK7 using super abrasive diamond wheel

In this paper, a novel conditioning technique using copper bonded diamond grinding wheels of 91 μm grain size and electrolytic in-process dressing (ELID) is first developed to precisely and effectively condition a nickel-electroplated monolayer coarse-grained diamond grinding wheel of 151 μm grain size. Under optimised conditioning parameters, the super abrasive diamond wheel was well conditioned in terms of a minimized run-out error and flattened diamond grain surfaces of constant peripheral envelope. The conditioning force was monitored by a force transducer, while the modified wheel surface status was in-situ monitored by a coaxial optical distance measurement system. Finally, the grinding experiment on BK7 was conducted using the well-conditioned wheel with the corresponding surface morphology and subsurface damage measured by atomic force microscope (AFM) and scanning electric microscope (SEM), respectively. The experimental result shows that the newly developed conditioning technique is applicable and feasible to ductile grinding optical glass featuring nano scale surface roughness, indicating the potential of super abrasive diamond wheels in ductile machining brittle materials. __________ Translated from Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2006, 42(10): 95–101 [译自: 机械工程学报]     

Grinding damage of BK7 using copper-resin bond coarse-grained diamond wheel

Coarse-grained wheels can realize high efficient grinding of optical glass. However, the serious surface and subsurface damage will be inevitably introduced by the coarse-grained wheels. In this paper, the grinding damage of a copper-resin bond coarse-grained diamond wheel with grain size of 150μm was investigated on optical glass BK7. The wheel was first properly trued with a metal bond diamond wheel, then pre-dressing for the wheel and grinding experiments are carried out on a precision grinder assisted with electrolytic in process dressing (ELID) method. The surface roughness (Ra) of ground surface was measured using an atomic force microscope (AFM) and the surface topography were imaged by a white light interferometer (WLI) and the AFM. The subsurface damage level of ground surface was evaluated by means of both MRF spot method and taper polishing-etching method, in term of the biggest depth of subsurface damage, distribution of micro defects beneath the ground surface, the cluster depth of subsurface damage, relationship between subsurface damage (SSD) and PV surface roughness (SR), propagating distance and pattern of cracks beneath the ground surface. Experimental results indicate that a well conditioned copper-resin bond coarse-grained diamond wheel on a precision grinder can generate good surface quality of Ra less than 50nm and good subsurface integrity with SSD depth less than 3.5ε for optical glass BK7.     

Design and validation of a grinding wheel optical scanner system to repeatedly measure and characterize wheel surface topography

This paper describes the design and validation of an upgraded grinding wheel scanner system that controls the position of a Nanovea CHR-150 Axial Chromatism sensor along the x- and y-directions of the wheel surface to measure and characterize wheel surface topography. The scanner features a novel homing system that enables the wheel to be removed from the scanner, used on a grinding machine and then re-mounted and re-homed so that the same location on the wheel surface can be repeatedly measured and monitored. The average standard deviation for homing was 27.6 μm and 19.3 μm in the x- and y-directions, respectively, which is more than adequate for typical area scans of 25 mm². After homing, the scanner was able to repeatedly measure features that were similar in size to an abrasive grain (∼200 μm diameter) with an average error of 9.3 μm and 5.9 μm in the x- and y-directions, respectively. The resulting topography measurements were compared with Scanning Electron Microscope images to demonstrate the accuracy of the scanner. A custom particle filter was developed to process the resulting data and a novel analysis technique involving the rate of change of measured area was proposed as a method for establishing the reference wheel surface from which desired wheel topography results can be reported such as the number of cutting edges, cutting edge width and cutting edge area as a function of radial depth.     

电镀金刚石砂轮高效精密修整及熔融石英磨削试验研究

大尺寸光学玻璃元件主要采用细磨粒金刚石砂轮进行精密/超精密磨削加工,但存在砂轮修整频繁、工件表面面形精度难以保证、加工效率低等缺点。采用大磨粒金刚石砂轮进行加工则具有磨削比大、工件面形精度高等优点,然而高效精密的修整是其实现精密磨削的关键技术。采用Cr12钢对电镀金刚石砂轮(磨粒粒径151 μm)进行粗修整,借助修整区域聚集的热量加快金刚石的磨损,可使砂轮的回转误差快速降至10 μm以内。结合在线电解修锐技术,采用杯形金刚石修整滚轮对粗修整后的电镀砂轮进行精修整,砂轮的回转误差可达6 μm以内,轴向梯度误差由6 μm降至2.5 μm。通过对修整前后的金刚石砂轮表面磨损形貌成像及其拉曼光谱曲线分析了修整的机理。对应于不同的砂轮修整阶段进行熔融石英光学玻璃磨削试验,结果表明,砂轮回转误差较大时,工件材料表面以脆性断裂去除为主;随着砂轮回转误差和轴向梯度误差的减小,工件表面材料以塑性去除为主,磨削表面粗糙度为Ra19.6 nm,亚表层损伤深度低至2 μm。可见,经过精密修整的大磨粒电镀金刚石砂轮可以实现对光学玻璃的精密磨削。     

Deformation analysis of micro/nano indentation and diamond grinding on optical glasses

The previous research of precision grinding optical glasses with electrolytic in process dressing (ELID) technology mainly concentrated on the action of ELID and machining parameters when grinding,whic...     

A novel technique for dressing metal-bonded diamond grinding wheel with abrasive waterjet and touch truing

The dressing of metal-bonded diamond grinding wheels is difficult despite their availabilities on hard and brittle materials. In this paper, a novel compound technology that combines abrasive waterjet (AWJ) and touch truing is proposed for dressing metal-bonded diamond grinding wheel precisely and efficiently. The dressing experiments of a coarse-grained and a fine-grained bronze-bonded diamond grinding wheel were carried out on a surface grinder with a developed AWJ system. The feasibility of this method was verified by analyzing the wheel runout, the truing forces, and the wheel surface topography. The variations of 3D surface roughness of wheel surface topography during the compound dressing process were quantitatively analyzed. The mechanism of AWJ and touch compound dressing is also discussed. Further, a reaction-bonded silicon carbide block was ground to validate the dressing quality. The experiment results indicate that the grinding wheels that were well dressed by the proposed technique leads to a smaller grinding force and a smaller surface roughness than that of undressed wheels.     

A study on wear mechanism and wear reduction strategies in grinding wheels used for ELID grinding

Metal-bonded superabrasive diamond grinding wheels have superior qualities such as high bond strength, high stability and high grindability. The major problems encountered are wheel loading and glazing, which impedes the effectiveness of the grinding wheel. Electrolytic in-process dressing (ELID) is an effective method to dress the grinding wheel during grinding. The wear mechanism of metal-bonded grinding wheels dressed using ELID is different form the conventional grinding methods because the bond strength of the wheel-working surface is reduced by electrolysis. The reduction of bond strength reduces the grit-depth-of-cut and hence the surface finish is improved. The oxide layer formed on the surface of the grinding wheel experiences macrofracture at the end of wheel life while machining hard and brittle workpieces. When the wheel wear is dominated by macrofracture, the wheel-working surface is free from loaded chips and worn diamond grits. When the oxide layer is removed from the wheel surface, the electrical conductivity of the grinding wheel increases, and that stimulates electrolytic dressing. The conditions applied to the pulse current influence the amount of layer oxidizing from the grinding wheel surface. Longer pulse ‘on’ time increases the wheel wear. Shorter pulse ‘on’ time can be selected for a courser grit size wheel since that type of wheel needs high grinding efficiency. Equal pulse ‘on’ and ‘off’ time is desired for finer grit size wheels to obtain stable and ultraprecision surface finish.     

Effect of parameters on grinding forces and energy while grinding Al (A356)/SiC composites

Abstract

Grinding processes require a high energy input per unit volume of material removed, which is converted to heat at the grinding zone, resulting in increased force and wear. In the present study, the influence of grinding parameters like work speed and depth of cut on grinding forces and energy was studied. An attempt has been made to study the forces and energy involved while grinding aluminium alloy (A356)/silicon carbide (SiC) composite material with different grinding wheels. Experiments were carried out on a surface grinding machine. Three different types of wheels like SiC, cubic boron nitride (CBN) and diamond wheels were used. The grinding forces increased with increase in depth of cut and work speed. SiC exhibited high grinding force compared to the CBN wheel. In the case of the diamond wheel, it was even less. The specific grinding energy was highest for the diamond wheel followed by CBN and SiC wheels. The specific grinding energy decreased with increase in depth of cut and work speed.     

Study on methods to optimize laser-sharpening quality,efficiency and topography

This paper aims to improve bond surface smoothness, sharpening quality and efficiency as well as control grain protrusion height. Systematic research was performed on pulsed fiber laser sharpening of a coarse-grained bronze-bonded diamond grinding wheel. The results show that bond surface smoothness is related to the laser spot overlap ratio U_c and the laser scan track overlap ratio U_l. In the range 10–70%, an increase in U_c and U_l improved the sharpened bond surface smoothness. Sharpening quality and efficiency are both related to laser power density I_p. In the range 2.115–6.344 × 10⁷ W cm⁻², an increase in I_p gradually improved sharpening efficiency, but the sharpening quality trend initially improved followed by a subsequent decline. The grain protrusion height is related to the laser scan cycles N. An excessively small N will result in an insufficient chip space such that the grinding wheel is likely blocked. Grains will likely fall off due to an insufficient holding force if N is excessively large. Compared with silicon carbide grinding wheel sharpening, a pulsed laser-sharpened grinding wheel exhibits less surface grain fall-off, better grain height uniformity, more chip space around the grain and superior grinding wheel surface topography.     

Subsurface crystal lattice deformation machined by ultraprecision grinding of soft-brittle CdZnTe crystals

Cd_0.96Zn_0.04Te (111) single crystals were ultraprecisely ground by #1500, #3000, and #5000 diamond grinding wheels, and the corresponding surface roughness Ra is 49.132, 18.746, and 5.762 nm. High-resolution field emission scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope were employed to investigate the surface and subsurface damage. After ultraprecision grinding by three kinds of diamond wheels, the subsurface can achieve ultra-low damage layer with thickness of 1–2 nm made of amorphous state material and lattice distortion layer. For the #1500 precision grinding, the subsurface damage is mainly multi-nanocrystal with diameter in the range of 5–20 nm. While for the #3000 precision grinding, the subsurface damage is made of amorphous state material containing nanocrystals with diameter mainly in the range of 2–5 nm, and the bending deformation is mainly conducted through dislocation pleat formation. For #5000 ultraprecision grinding, the subsurface damage is mainly amorphous state material, and nanocrystals with diameter in the range of 2–5 nm enrich adjacent to the ground surface. Moreover, the size of nanocrystal ground by #5000 diamond grinding wheel is mainly 2 nm. Fracture mechanism ground by #5000 diamond grinding wheel firstly turns onto thin amorphous state film, then fracture.     

Fabrication of small aspheric moulds using single point inclined axis grinding

Single point inclined axis grinding techniques, including the wheel setting, wheel–workpiece interference, error source determination and compensation approaches, were studied to fabricate small aspheric moulds of high profile accuracy. The interference of a cylindrical grinding wheel with the workpiece was analysed and the criteria for selection of wheel geometry for avoiding the interference was proposed. The grinding process was performed with compensation focused on two major error sources, wheel setting error and wheel wear. The grinding results showed that the compensation approach was efficient and the developed grinding process was capable to generate small aspheric concave surfaces on tungsten carbide material with a profile error of smaller than 200 nm in PV value after two to three compensation cycles.     

树脂基圆弧金刚石砂轮的在位精密成形修整技术

针对球面、非球面及自由曲面超精密磨削加工用树脂基圆弧形金刚石砂轮难以精密修整的问题,提出基于旋转绿碳化硅(GC)磨棒的在位精密成形修整技术。在分析GC磨棒和圆弧砂轮几何关系的基础上,确定修整过程中圆弧插补轨迹的补偿方法及GC磨棒运动轨迹的设计方案。采用KEYENCE激光测微仪采集砂轮圆弧特征点,表征圆弧砂轮的修整状况。研究不同粒度的GC磨棒、进给深度和圆弧插补速度对圆弧金刚石砂轮修整率和修整精度的影响规律。研究结果表明,该修整方法可根据加工曲率半径要求实现不同圆弧半径砂轮的精密在位修整,修整后可自动消除砂轮垂直方向的位置偏差;采用400#和800#的GC磨棒对D3和D7砂轮均有较高的修整率(0.7~6.7);与400#和1500#的GC磨棒相比,800#GC磨棒更适合粒度为D3和D7圆弧金刚石砂轮的精密修整;相比圆弧插补速度,进给深度对砂轮的圆弧半径尺寸误差和形状误差影响更大,进给深度越小,圆弧半径尺寸误差和形状误差越小;修整后两种砂轮的圆弧半径误差均可控制在5%以内,D3砂轮的形状误差可控制在3μm/4 mm以内,D7金刚石砂轮可控制在6μm/4 mm以内,修整后比修整前形状误差提高14倍左右。     

Ultrasonic vibration assisted grinding of hard and brittle linear micro-structured surfaces

In this paper, a novel ultrasonic vibration assisted grinding (UVAG) technique was presented for machining hard and brittle linear micro-structured surfaces. The kinematics of the UVAG for micro-structures was first analyzed by considering both the vibration trace and the topological features on the machined surface. Then, the influences of the ultrasonic vibration parameters and the tilt angle on the ground quality of micro-structured surfaces were investigated. The experimental results indicate that the introduction of ultrasonic vibration is able to improve the surface quality (The roughness SR_a was reduced to 78 nm from 136 nm), especially in guaranteeing the edge sharpness of micro-structures. By increasing the tilt angle, the surface roughness can be further reduced to 56 nm for a 59% improvement in total. By using the preferred UVAG parameters realized by orthogonal experiments, a micro cylinder array with surface roughness of less than 50 nm and edge radius of less than 1 μm was fabricated. The primary and secondary sequence of the grinding parameters obtained by the orthogonal experiments are as follows: feed rate, tilt angle of workpiece, depth of grinding, vibration frequency and amplitude. The spindle speed in the range of 1000 rpm–3000 rpm does not significantly affect the machined micro-structured surface roughness. Finally, more micro-structures including a micro V-groove array and a micro pyramid array were machined on binderless WC as well as SiC ceramic by means of the UVAG technique. The edge radius on the V-grooves and pyramids are both less than 1 μm, indicating the feasibility of UVAG in machining hard and brittle micro-structured surfaces for an improved surface quality.     

The ability of precision hard turning to increase rolling contact fatigue life

In this paper, precision hard turning is proposed for the finishing of the AISI 52100 bearing components to improve rolling contact fatigue life. This finishing process induces a homogenous microstructure at surface and subsurface layers. Fatigue life tests performed on a twin-disk machine show that rolling contact fatigue life increases as R_a value decreases. The bearing components reached 0.32 million cycles for R_a=0.25 μm and 5.2 million cycles for R_a=0.11 μm. In comparison, the bearing components achieved 1.2 million cycles with grinding (R_a=0.2 μm) and 3.2 million cycles with grinding followed by honing (R_a=0.05 μm) respectively.     

Specific energy and surface roughness of minimum quantity lubrication grinding Ni-based alloy with mixed vegetable oil-based nanofluids

Vegetable oil is a low toxic, excellent biodegradable and renewable energy source used as an ideal lubricating base oil in machining. Castor oil exhibits good lubrication performance but poor mobility, which limits its application especially in precision grinding. The main objective of the work presented to obtain optimal mixed vegetable based-oil and optimal nanoparticles adding concentration in grinding Ni-based alloy with minimum quantity lubrication. An experimental investigation is carried out first to study the different vegetable oils with excellent mobility mixed with castor oil. The lubrication property of the oil was evaluated in terms of grinding force, force ratio, specific grinding energy, and surface roughness. Based on the test conditions, it is found that soybean/castor mixed oil obtained the optimal results (μ= 0.379, U = 83.27 J/mm³ and Ra = 0.325 μm) and lubricating effect compared with castor oil and other mixed base oils. To further explore the lubricating capability of soybean/castor mixed oil, MoS₂ nanoparticles which have excellent lubricating property were added into the soybean/castor mixed oil to prepare different concentrations nanofluids. From the present study, it can be concluded that 8% mass fraction of the oil mixture should be added to obtain the optimal machining results, with the lowest force ratio (0.329), specific energy (58.60 J/mm³), and average grinding temperature (182.6 °C). Meanwhile, better surface microtopography of ground parts and grinding debris morphologies were also observed for the machining conditions.     

Wear of diamond tools in the dressing of discrete grinding wheels

The wear of a diamond tool in the dressing of continuous and discrete grinding wheels is studied. Formulas are derived for the wear of the diamond grains and the dressing tool when applied to a wheel with a discrete cutting surface.     

Evaluation on 3D micro-ground profile accuracy of micro-pyramid-structured Si surface using an adaptive-orientation WLI measurement

According to the aperture of the objectives, surfaces with steep topographies greater than approximate 25° are difficult or unable to measure with white light interferometry. Hence, an adaptive-orientation measurement is proposed by adjusting the incidence angle from 51° to 21°. In this study, a micro-grinding with #3000 diamond wheel V-tip was employed to fabricate the micro-pyramid-structured Si surface with 142 μm in depth and 38 nm in surface roughness. The objective is to evaluate the micro-profile accuracy of micro-ground Si surface. First, the four micro-ground surfaces of micro-pyramid-structured surface were measured along the adaptive orientation with an incidence angle, respectively; then iterative closest point (ICP) matching was used to reconstruct the whole micro-ground surface with four adaptive-orientation measured point clouds; finally, 3D reconstruction error and characterized profile error were investigated. It is shown that the ICP matching with denoising and finishing is valid to register four adaptive-orientation measured point clouds for reconstructing an integrated micro-ground surface. Moreover, a decrease in incidence angle to measured surfaces leads to a decrease in 3D reconstruction error, an increase in valid top-topographic point number and a decrease in characterized profile error. It is confirmed that the adaptive-orientation measurement with 21° incidence angle may enhance 3D reconstruction accuracy by about 35%, valid top-topographic point number by about 3 times and characterized profile accuracy by about 38% against the traditional measurement, respectively. The micro-ground form error of 5.5 μm and the characterized profile error of 6.0 μm may be achieved, respectively, thus the micro-grinding is valid for the precision micro-fabrication of micro-structured surface.     

On-machine precision preparation and dressing of ball-headed diamond wheel for the grinding of fused silica

In the grinding of high quality fused silica parts with complex surface or structure using ball-headed metal bonded diamond wheel with small diameter,the existing dressing methods are not suitable to dress the ball-headed diamond wheel precisely due to that they are either on-line in process dressing which may causes collision problem or without consideration for the effects of the tool setting error and electrode wear.An on-machine precision preparation and dressing method is proposed for ball-headed diamond wheel based on electrical discharge machining.By using this method the cylindrical diamond wheel with small diameter is manufactured to hemispherical-headed form.The obtained ball-headed diamond wheel is dressed after several grinding passes to recover geometrical accuracy and sharpness which is lost due to the wheel wear.A tool setting method based on high precision optical system is presented to reduce the wheel center setting error and dimension error.The effect of electrode tool wear is investigated by electrical dressing experiments,and the electrode tool wear compensation model is established based on the experimental results which show that the value of wear ratio coefficient K’ tends to be constant with the increasing of the feed length of electrode and the mean value of K’ is 0.156.Grinding experiments of fused silica are carried out on a test bench to evaluate the performance of the preparation and dressing method.The experimental results show that the surface roughness of the finished workpiece is 0.03 μm.The effect of the grinding parameter and dressing frequency on the surface roughness is investigated based on the measurement results of the surface roughness.This research provides an on-machine preparation and dressing method for ball-headed metal bonded diamond wheel used in the grinding of fused silica,which provides a solution to the tool setting method and the effect of electrode tool wear.     

Effects of carbon fiber length on the tribological properties of paper-based friction materials

Four kinds of paper-based friction materials reinforced with carbon fibers of 100, 400, 600 and 800 μm were prepared by paper-making processes. Experimental results showed that the friction materials became porous with fiber length increasing. The friction torque curves were flat except the sample with 100 μm fibers. The wear rate of the sample with 100 μm fibers was only 1.40×10⁻⁵ mm³/J. Tiny debris and fine scratches formed in the worn surface were the reason for excellent wear resistance of friction pairs with 100 μm fibers. The friction pairs with 400, 600 and 800 μm fibers showed typically abrasive wear and fatigue wear.