Study on the rotary cup dressing of CBN grinding wheel and the grinding performance

A systematic research is conducted to investigate the effect of rotary cup dressing on vitrified cubic boron nitride grinding performance in grinding of nickel-based superalloys. Grinding performance is evaluated mainly in terms of specific grinding energy and radial wheel wear. The number of active grits per unit area and their slope is considered as the two grinding wheel topographical key parameters for studying grinding performance. Cup dressing conditions with various speed ratios and overlap factors were investigated. In each case, the specific grinding energy and the radial wheel wear were experimentally measured, and then the effect of changing dressing parameters on the grinding performance is analyzed. To provide a view on how various parameters influence specific energy and the importance of wheel topography and grit workpiece interaction, a new specific grinding energy model is developed. Inputs to this model are workpiece parameters, grinding process parameters, and, in particular, the grinding wheel topographical parameters. This model is validated by experimental results. The theoretical values considering the complexity of the grinding process reasonably compare with the experimental results. The effect of number of active grits per unit area and their slope on specific grinding energy and then metal removal mechanism is investigated. The results revealed that the number of active grits per unit area has less effect on specific grinding energy than grits slope.