A new approach to calculating the workpiece temperature distributions in grinding

In a previous paper it was shown how the wear of the grinding wheel could be characterized by an increase in negative rake angle of the cutting edges in addition to a growth in area of the wear flats on the grits and how in this way the increase in grinding forces with wheel wear could be accounted for. The results for cutting and rubbing forces from the previous paper are used in this paper to determine the heat fluxes needed in calculating temperatures in the contact area between wheel and workpiece. The temperature distributions are obtained by superimposing the distributions in the vicinity of individual cutting edges and wear flats currently engaged with the workpiece upon the temperatures produced by grits which have left the contact area. A random approach, in the sense that the effect of many abrasive grits of varying sizes subjected to different forces and randomly distributed on the wheel is considered, is adopted. Results are presented showing the influence of wheel wear on temperatures.     

A novel method for grooving and re-grooving aluminum oxide grinding wheels

In this paper, a new grinding wheel grooving system is proposed that is able to both groove as well as re-groove a grinding wheel using a single-point diamond dressing tool. The re-grooving capability of the new system is achieved by synchronizing the grinding wheel angular position with the dressing tool translational position. This position synchronization enables the diamond dressing tip to repeatedly engage the grinding wheel at the same angular position around the wheel and then proceed to trace the existing groove pattern along the wheel surface to, for example, refresh a worn groove geometry. Furthermore, the proposed system can be mounted on either a non-CNC or a CNC conventional grinding machine and can groove and re-groove the grinding wheel without the need to remove it from the grinding wheel spindle. The novel wheel grooving system was experimentally validated by creating helically shaped circumferential grooves on the grinding wheel surface. The resulting maximum differences in groove width and depth were found to be 0.015 and 0.013 mm, respectively, for ten consecutively cut grooves. These small discrepancies are believed to be primarily due to the brittle fracture mechanism of the abrasive grits. Furthermore, the new wheel grooving system was shown to be able to create a wide range of different groove patterns on the wheel surface. A wear study was then carried out to compare the performance of both grooved and non-grooved grinding wheels. For the conditions used in this research, the results of this wear study showed that a grooved wheel not only exhibits less wear than a non-grooved wheel but also can remove approximately twice as much workpiece material before failure occurs.     

Experimental study of time-dependent performance in superalloy high-speed grinding with cBN wheels

The time-dependent performance of grinding is expressed as the change of process output measures as a function of time during grinding. Although the wheel capability will be restored by dressing, the time-dependent performance of grinding during one dressing skip is the determinant on the grinding quality variation in terms of surface integrity and workpiece geometric accuracy. Therefore, understanding of grinding time-dependent performance in relation with the wheel–workpiece microscopic interaction is critical for wheel and process development to achieve stable grinding processes. In this article, the grinding of superalloy with cubic boron nitride (cBN) grinding wheels is performed. The time-dependent performance is recorded to represent the characteristic features, and the microscopic wheel topography is measured under scanning electron microscope (SEM) throughout the grinding process, so as to reveal the root cause for the time-dependent performance and its impact on the workpiece quality variation. The experiment results indicate that during the grinding process, there exist three characteristic stages, namely, initial wheel wear stage, severe wheel wear stage, and wheel resharpening stage. Moreover, the change trend of spindle power consumption, workpiece quality on surface hardness and roughness, wheel wear condition, and G ratio are consistent with the wheel topography evolution reflected by SEM photos, which can be used to present the three grinding stages. The wear and replacement of the efficient grain cutting edges result in the time-dependent performance during superalloy high-speed grinding with cBN wheels.     

Creep feed profile grinding of Ni-based superalloys with ultrafine-polycrystalline cBN abrasive grits

This paper presents the grinding characteristics of a newly developed ultrafine-polycrystalline cBN abrasive grit in creep feed profile grinding of Nickel-based superalloys. Experiments for producing a rectangular-shaped groove on a flat surface in one pass by creep feed grinding have been carried out using the new polycrystalline cBN (PcBN-U) grit and a representative conventional monocrystalline cBN (McBN-B1) grit. The grinding forces in grinding with PcBN-U grits are reduced by 20 30% compared with McBN-B1 grits. When grinding with PcBN-U grits, both radial wear and profile wear are less, and hence the grinding ratio is around 4 times higher than that with McBN-B1 grits. The size of grit fracture during the grinding process with PcBN-U grits is smaller than that with McBN-B1 grits. It gives lower wheel wear rate and longer wheel life in grinding with PcBN-U than with McBN-B1.     

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.     

Some remarks on the chemical wear of diamond and cubic BN during turning and grinding

Previous experiments using simple grinding wheels consisting of a single layer of cubic boron nitride (CBN) or diamond grits on an electroplated rod have shown that the production of wear flats on the grits leads to an increasing grinding force which eventually results in the destruction of the nib. In one of the present experiments, similar worn areas are observed on the grits in a conventional type grinding wheel. The wear of the flats appears to be similar in type to that observed on the flanks of turning tools fabricated from single crystals of diamond and CBN. Experiments with such turning tools show wide variations in the rates of wear between diamond and CBN and between different difficult metal workpieces. These and previous results imply that the flats are formed by an attritious wear process conditioned by the chemical constitution of the tool, workpiece and environment. Further consideration of these various points should lead to the enhanced performance of diamond and CBN grinding wheels.     

Some observations on profile wear in creep-feed grinding

Tests were performed to investigate the effect of various parameters on the wear of a profiled grinding wheel when creep-feed grinding a nickel-base alloy. The wear of a number of different radii, angles and profile heights was monitored. It was found that this wear was strongly influenced by the total distance travelled by an individual grit while in contact with the workpiece and by the workpiece feed rate. In addition, using a neat oil grinding fluid resulted in less wear than a water-based fluid and a 120 grit wheel wore less than a 60–80 grit wheel. A simple theoretical model was developed for predicting the effect of stock removal rate on profile wear in the creep-feed grinding of a “difficult-to-grind” material and this gave good correlation with the experimental trends.     

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.     

Online dressing of profile grinding wheels

Improving the dressing accuracy and efficiency of profile grinding wheels has been increasingly demanded. The significance is addressed in the practical application of precision engineering. In this study, an online dressing system of profile grinding wheels is introduced. A special feature of the system is the application of the non-contact image measuring method used to evaluate deviation of the grinding wheel’s edge in determining the timing and amount of dressing. Diamond form rollers were selected to generate the profile grinding wheels with steep profile flanks by taking advantage of their high flexibility, short dressing times, and low wear rate. A series of grinding and dressing tests were carried out to investigate the dressing accuracy and surface quality for the profile grinding wheels with the proposed system. Through repeated experimental investigations, it was found that the dressing force is a key parameter in determining the number of passes needed in achieving high efficiency dressing. This is to assure that the length of the dressing time, and waste of the dresser and grinding wheel can be minimized. Other main dressing conditions that influence the grinding wheel and workpiece roughness include speed ratio, cross feed and roller profile radius.     

Modeling of grinding wheel topography based on a joint method of 3D microscopic observation and embedded grindable thermocouple technique

The grinding wheel generally has a complicated topography for the irregularity of abrasive grits, which always has an important influence on the final quality of the grinding workpiece. In this paper, a joint method of microscopic observation and grindable thermocouple technique was adopted to model the wheel topography. The grinding wheel topography was first modeled through microscopic observation by an in-position 3D microscope KH-7700 installed on the grinding machine. Based on the measurement of grit sizes, shapes, and distributions through the 3D microscope, a wheel surface model was established and a static grit number model based on Rayleigh distribution was proposed. Moreover, a numerical model was given to validate the proposed Rayleigh distribution model of an active grit number. In order to investigate the real abrasive grit number in a grinding process, an embedded grindable thermocouple was used to detect the dynamic variation of temperature signals, which will reflect the variation of in-process wheel topography under different process parameters, machine status, and even the grit-workpiece interaction status. Through the experimental analysis, it can be concluded that the increase of depth of cut a_p could help to greatly increase the active grit number to the grinding process, while the increase of workpiece speed V_w and decrease of wheel speed V_s could lead to a subtle increase of the grit number. Moreover, the active grit number is about one fourth to one third of the static grits. The contact arc length between the wheel (CBN) and the workpiece (Ti-6Al-4V) was calculated by the contact time from the workpiece surface temperature data, and it was found that the actual contact arc length was about 1.5~2 times of the geometric size.     

Numerical modelling of surface topography in superabrasive grinding

A numerical simulation technique has been developed to generate the grinding wheel topography using square pyramidal grits. The ground workpiece surface has also been generated simulating the trajectory of all the abrasive grits and removing the interfering material. The average workpiece surface roughness is calculated and the effects of different grinding parameters on the average surface roughness of the generated workpiece have been studied. Finally, the variation of surface roughness with the maximum uncut chip thickness has been studied.     

Elastic recovery of monocrystalline silicon during ultra-fine rotational grinding

Micromachining of brittle materials like monocrystalline silicon to obtain deterministic surface topography is a 21st Century challenge. As the scale of machining has shrunk down to sub-micrometre dimensions, the undulations in the machined topography start to overlap with the extent of elastic recovery (spring back) of the workpiece, posing challenges in the accurate estimation of the material's elastic recovery effect. The quantification of elastic recovery is rather complex in the grinding operation due to (i) randomness in the engagement of various grit sizes with the workpiece as well as (ii) the high strain rate employed during grinding as opposed to single grit scratch tests employed in the past at low strain rates. Here in this work, a method employing inclination of workpiece surface was proposed to quantify elastic recovery of silicon in ultra-fine rotational grinding. The method uniquely enables experimental extraction of the elastic recovery and tip radius of the grits actively engaged with the workpiece at the end of the ultra-fine grinding operation. The proposed experimental method paves the way to enable a number of experimental and simulation endeavours to develop more accurate material constitutive models and grinding models targeted towards precision processing of materials. It can also be shown that using this method if the tip radius distribution of active grits is measured at different time instances, then this data can be used to assess the state of the grinding wheel to monitor its wear rate which will be a useful testbed to create a digital twin in the general framework of digital manufacturing processes.     

纳米结构陶瓷涂层磨削力的研究

对纳米陶瓷涂层材料在金刚石砂轮精密磨削过程中的磨削力(包括单位磨削面积磨削力和砂轮单颗磨粒磨削力)进行了研究,分析了砂轮磨削深度、工件进给速度、金刚石砂轮磨粒尺寸以及粘结剂类型等磨削参数对磨削力的影响规律.     

Experimental study of wheel wear in electrolytic in-process dressing and grinding

Profile accuracy of components ground with ultra-precision machine tools is primarily dependent on wheel wear. Quantitative analysis of wheel wear is therefore an important aspect for precision grinding with electrolytic in-process dressing (ELID). In this paper, wheel wear is measured from ELID grinding experiments with different dressing and machining parameters. The grinding forces and dressing current characteristics of the experiments are also compared. Based on the results, a benchmark function is defined for wheel wear rate. A relation for identifying insufficient dressing from sufficient dressing for particular machining conditions is also identified. It is found that insufficient dressing produces pitting and/or arcing on the wheel surface, and wheel wear can be linearly correlated to ELID grinding conditions when the wheels are sufficiently dressed.     

Study on textured CBN grinding wheel by laser cladding

In this investigation, in order to improve bonding strength between superabrasive/metal matrix/grinding substrate, life span of grinding wheel, and grinding using small grits in continuous grinding simultaneously to fit for high speed and high precision machining in industry, coaxial powder feeding laser cladding method with CAD/CAM technology is introduced to manufacture textured CBN/CuSnTi–grinding wheels. The morphology of CBN grit on laser-cladding layer under optimized laser-cladding parameters and a pit created by fallen-off CBN on laser-cladding layer with lower laser–cladding energy density are observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The element distributions of interfaces of CBN/CuSnTi/AISI 1045 are analyzed by SEM and energy disperse spectroscope (EDS). The morphology and elements distribution of residual resultants on the surface of CBN grits etched by nitric acid are analyzed by SEM and EDS. Comparative-grinding process between laser cladding–grinding wheel (LCGW) and customized electroplated grinding wheel (EGW) is analyzed with grinding forces and temperature aspects respectively. The wear morphology of CBN grits on LCGW after grinding is observed by SEM. The results show that CBN grit with integrate cutting edges can protrude 50% height of its diameter on laser-cladding layer under optimized laser–cladding parameters. Fe, N, Ti, and B segregates attached to the interfaces of CBN/CuSnTi/AISI 1045 with Cu and Sn distributed uniformly in the laser-cladding layer. Residual resultants on CBN can be divided into two parts based on the distances from the surface of CBN grits. The grinding forces (Fz and Fy) and grinding temperature from LCGW are lower than those from EGW. The wear conditions of CBN on laser cladding are three parts: microfracture, cleavage plane, and wear-out.     

An experimental study on the grinding of alumina with a monolayer brazed diamond wheel

A monolayer diamond grinding wheel was fabricated by brazing in vacuum. The wheel was then used to grind alumina at three different grinding speeds. The horizontal and vertical grinding forces, and the grinding temperatures were measured during grinding. SEM observations were made for the ground workpiece surfaces. The influences of the peripheral wheel speed on the grinding forces, specific grinding energy and grinding temperatures were analyzed under different combinations of depth of cut and workpiece velocity. The dependence of the average grinding force per grain and specific grinding energy on the maximum undeformed chip thickness was discussed respectively. It was found that an increase in the peripheral wheel speed reduced grinding force, but increased force ratio, specific grinding energy, and grinding temperature.     

Some effects of dressing on grinding performance

This paper presents a review of dressing from the work of Pahlitzsch in 1953 up to the present day and concentrates on the single-point diamond dressing of vitreous bonded wheels. Particular emphasis is made of the role of dressing on cutting forces, specific energy, wheel wear and the surface finish of the workpiece. The extent to which an optimum wheel condition is a compromise is discussed together with the practical methods of achieving and monitoring such a condition.     

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.     

On the grindability of low-carbon steel under dry, cryogenic and neat oil environments with monolayer brazed cBN and alumina wheels

Grinding of low-carbon steel often exhibits severe wheel loading due to the formation of long chips and high adhering tendency of the work material with the grits. Conventional composite-type alumina wheels are commercially utilised for grinding low-carbon steel. However, the actual nature of grit wear cannot be truly understood in a composite wheel. The truing and dressing conditions also have some influences on the wear mechanism. Therefore, in order to explore the wear pattern on a single layer of grits, monolayer brazed cBN, white and grey Al₂O₃ wheels were used in the present study. The grindability of AISI 1020 steel was evaluated under dry, liquid nitrogen and neat oil environments. The surface profile of the workpiece after being ground in each environmental condition was traced with a surface profilometer to reveal the mechanism of grit wear. The post-grinding conditions of the wheels were observed using scanning electron microscopy. The cBN wheel was found to outperform the alumina wheels in terms of grinding forces and grit wear. The wear of the cBN wheel was remarkably arrested with the application of neat oil. On the other hand, large-scale adhesion and breakage of grits in white alumina wheel were observed under cryogenic environment. In fact, the beneficial role of liquid nitrogen could not be realised in reducing grinding forces and grit wear with all the three types of wheel. A lubricating agent like neat oil appeared to be more suitable than cryogenic cooling when grinding low-carbon steel.     

Study of grinding tool profiling for robotic processes

In the fabrication and maintenance of hydroelectric turbines, the reconstruction by grinding of certain high-curvature surfaces such as junctions has not yet been robotized and must now be done manually. The problem is related to the very fast grinding wheel wear and the difficulty in controlling the position and orientation of the robot's grinder to adjust to changes in wheel shape. If the grinding wheel orientation is kept constant with respect to the workpiece, wheel-workpiece conformity increases, specific energy increases, the material removal rate drops and glazing of the wheel may occur. This article presents a method for controlling simultaneously the profile of both the workpiece and the grinding wheel. The orientation of the wheel is oscillated to maintain a constant wheel profile throughout its life and thus achieve better control in material removal. Research results provide the basis for robotic grinding tool profiling.