New tool concept for grinding a plateau-like surface for tribological applications

One of the most important factors for energy efficiency is the reduction of friction in machine elements. The grinding process is often the final machining process in machining hardened steel parts and the resulting surface finish influences the tribological behavior. The combination of grinding with a honing process can generate a plateau-like surface to reduce friction and create an oil reservoir to decrease abrasive wear and improve the fluid film stability. Additional processes like laser machining, micro milling or etching are able to generate micro dimples to improve the reduction of friction. Today, grinding processes are limited to machine plateau-like surfaces. Within this paper, a new tool concept will be presented, composed of a grinding tool with two different grain sizes and a metallic bonding. The use of small abrasive grains generates a smooth surface with low roughness values. A few additional larger grains induce stochastic scratches and create the plateau-like surface. Grinding experiments are conducted to analyze the effect of feed rate, feed angle and ratio between small and large grains on the resulting surface.