Cutting-edge CBN grinding wheels: exploiting texturing for enhanced performance via attenuating heat generation

Official URL: https://www.utis.tc/gorseller/files/UTIS%202024_Proceedings.pdf

CBN grinding wheels have demonstrated superiority over other types due to their cost-effectiveness and hardness, which is comparable to that of diamonds. However, grinding process itself inherently produces significant amount of heat at the contact zone because of friction and plowing. This problem affects the surface integrity of the workpiece and shortens the lifespan of the wheels. Various studies have explored the use of different coolants and application methods, which have been found to be effective to mere extends, not mentioning the huge environmental impacts. Texturing grinding wheels with grooves has been proposed as a solution to control the heat and temperature within acceptable limits. This study aims to evaluate this approach on CBN grinding wheels using specialized software and validate the findings through corresponding experiments. The software simulates the predicts the generated ground surface, calculates the involved forces and calculates the temperature at the workpiece surface at discretized time steps. Conventional CBN grinding wheels with laser-generated grooves on the peripheral area were utilized. The simulation results support the experimental outcomes, indicating that the channels on the wheels can significantly reduce the average grinding forces and consequently lead to lower contact zone temperature. Moreover, comparison between three different conditions of patterns have been made to study the effect of the patterns.