Optimizing the Sharpening Process of Hybrid-Bonded Diamond Grinding Wheels by Means of a Process Model

The grinding wheel topography influences the cutting performance and thus the economic efficiency of a grinding process. In contrary to conventional grinding wheels, super abrasive grinding wheels should undergo an additional sharpening process after the initial profiling process to obtain a suitable microstructure of the grinding wheel. Due to the lack of scientific knowledge, the sharpening process is mostly performed manually in industrial practice. A CNC-controlled sharpening process can not only improve the reproducibility of grinding processes but also decrease the secondary processing time and thereby increase the economic efficiency significantly. To optimize the sharpening process, experimental investigations were carried out to identify the significant sharpening parameters influencing the grinding wheel topography. The sharpening block width lSb, the grain size of the sharpening block dkSb and the area-related material removal in sharpening V’’Sb were identified as the most significant parameters. Additional experiments were performed to further quantify the influence of the significant sharpening parameters. Based on that, a process model was developed to predict the required sharpening parameters for certain target topographies. By using the process model, constant work results and improved process reliability can be obtained.

Analysis of the Cutting Abilities of the Multilayer Grinding Wheels—Case of Ti-6Al-4V Alloy Grinding

This paper presents an effectiveness analysis of the grinding process with the use of a new multi-layer abrasive tool. The designed abrasive tool consists of external layers with a conventional structure, whose task is to decrease the grinding wheel load and ensure high grinding volumetric efficiency. The inner layer of the grinding wheel contains a 30% addition of abrasive aggregates. The task of the inner layer is to provide lower roughness of the machined surface. The aim of the research presented in this paper was to evaluate the topography of the designed abrasive tool and to analyze the middle layer properties influencing the machined surface roughness. The differentiation of the active surface features of the abrasive tool was determined for the conventional layer and the layer with the addition of abrasive aggregates. The machining potential of the layers was also determined using the Shos parameter. The surface topography of Ti-6Al-4V alloys ground with the use of a multi-layer wheel and a conventional grinding wheel was analyzed. With the application of the bootstrap hypothesis, the set of roughness parameters differentiating the topography of ground surfaces was determined.

Improvement in Sintered Tungsten Carbide Tool Surface Integrity Using Femtosecond Pulse Laser

In this paper, we propose a surface integrity technique referred to as pulse laser grinding (PLG). This method is a combination of laser ablation and averaging processes, such as grinding, and has two characteristic features. The first feature is that the irradiation area consists of a long-focus lens and a pulse laser with a Gaussian profile, and this method has a laser irradiation area equivalent to that of the grinding wheel. However, owing to the difference in the removal process of PLG and that of conventional grinding, the surface roughness after processing is expected to be different. The second feature is that the workpiece is placed at an approximately parallel angle between the laser axis and the work surface to undergo laser ablation on the surface. The characteristic piece placement restrains laser-specific problems such as debris and redeposition. This study targets sintered tungsten carbide (WC-Co), for which it is particularly difficult to form low-roughness surfaces. Binder removal followed by WC grain detachment caused by conventional grinding contributes to the increase in roughness and deterioration of corner sharpness. The experimental results of PLG with a sufficiently averaged surface of a WC-Co tool confirmed that the parallel roughness reached an arithmetical mean roughness (Ra) of 0.025 μm, and the perpendicular roughness reached Ra below 0.006 μm, in agreement with the aforementioned considerations.

Experimental Research on Surface Roughness of Ultrasonic Assisted Grinding on 7075 Aluminum Alloy

7075 aluminum alloy is widely used due to its great performance, especially in aerospace area. In this paper, ultrasonic-assisted grinding technology is used to process 7075 aluminum alloy. The data is obtained through experiments, and the surface roughness and morphology of ultrasonic assisted grinding and conventional grinding under different spindle speeds, feed rates, and amplitudes are analyzed. Research has found that the increase in spindle speed and amplitude will improve the quality of the machined surface and reduce the surface roughness by 82.1% and 36%. However, with the increase of feed rate, the surface quality decreased significantly, and the surface roughness increased by 55.6%. The surface micro-morphology of the machined workpiece is observed, and the effects of different processing parameters on the surface micro-morphology are obtained.

Research on Surface Quality by Ultrasonic Vibration-Assisted Face Grinding of Cemented Carbide

Cemented carbide has huge applications in industrial production, but its high mechanical properties also increase the difficulty of processing. In this work, ultrasonic vibration-assisted grinding technology is used for the precision manufacturing of cemented carbide. The influence of the dynamic trajectory of the grains on the material removal process is analyzed. The morphology and roughness of the processed surface are measured and studied. It was observed that in the conventional grinding, the blade pattern is obvious with some defects on the surface. While in the ultrasonic vibration-assisted grinding, the material surface is mainly distributed with pits and small protrusions, and there is no obvious blade pattern. According to the roughness test, the roughness of ultrasonic vibration-assisted grinding is better than that of conventional grinding, and the increase in amplitude has a significant effect on the improvement of roughness. When the amplitude increases from 3μm to 9μm, the surface roughness is improved about 38.1%. The research of ultrasonic vibration-assisted grinding should be of great importance for promote the high-efficiency and high-quality processing and special applications of cemented carbide.

Generation mechanism modeling of surface topography in tangential ultrasonic vibration-assisted grinding with green silicon carbide abrasive wheel

Tangential ultrasonic vibration-assisted grinding (TUAG) has a wide prospect in machining difficult-to-machine materials. However, the surface generation mechanism in TUAG is not fully recovered. This study proposes an analytical model of the surface topography produced by TUAG. Based on the model, the surface topography and roughness are predicted and experimentally verified. In addition, the influence of the grinding parameters on the surface topography is analyzed. The predicted surface topography well coincides with experimental measurements, and the prediction error in surface roughness Ra by the proposed model is less than 5%. Compared with conventional grinding, TUAG produces a surface with more uniform scratches and surface roughness Ra was reduced by up to 27% with the proper parameters. However, the improvement of surface roughness in TUAG is weakened when grinding speed or depth of cut increases. Moreover, the influence of the ultrasonic vibration amplitude on the surface roughness is not monotonous. With the grinding parameters selected in this study, TUAG with an ultrasonic amplitude of 7.5 μm produces the minimum surface roughness.