
Abstract. In high and super-high speed grinding process, there is an airflow layer with high speed around the circle edge of the grinding wheel that hinders the grinding fluid into contact layer, namely, the air barrier effect. The speed of airflow layer is directly proportional to the square of the wheel speed. Quick-point grinding is a new type of high and super-high speed grinding process with a point contact zone and less grinding power. The edge effect of the air barrier is weakened because the thin CBN wheel is applied in the process. By the analysis of dynamic pressure and velocity distributions in the airflow layer around the wheel edge, the mathematic models of the flow and jet pressure of grinding fluid for effective supply in the process were established and the process of optimization calculation of the jet nozzle diameter for green manufacturing was also analyzed based on the thermodynamics and the technical character of quick-point grinding process. The quick-point grinding experiment for surface integrity influenced by grinding fluid supply parameters was performed.
Introduction
Grinding is the machining process that has heavy effect on both environment and resource. The heavy effect results from the grinding powder and grinding fluid that is used in grinding process largely for cooling, washing and lubricating functions mainly. Especially for high and super-high grinding speed process, there is the airflow layer with high rotary speed around the circle edge of the grinding wheel that hinders the grinding fluid into the contact layer [1], namely the airflow barrier effect. So it has to increase the grinding fluid supply parameters to keep the fluid effect during grinding process. In recent years, it has been the focus of research in engineering to improve the grinding greenness and develop the green grinding process. Quick-point grinding is a new type of high and super-high speed grinding process with some excellent performances, such as low grinding force and temperature, good cooling conditions, long wheel life and so on. It is possible to achieve the dry grinding by designing the grinding fluid system and the grinding fluid supply parameters reasonably, and optimizing grinding process parameters for green manufacturing.
Analysis of Pressure and Velocity of Airflow Layer around Wheel
Grinding heat is generated from the deformation and friction of materials during the grinding process and makes the grinding temperature rise, which can result in the thermal surface damage of workpiece. Therefore, a reliable grinding fluid system is necessary for the most grinding process to keep cooling, washing and lubricating functions. For high and super-high speed grinding process, the grinding fluid supply parameters and jet way must be designed reasonably to overcome the airflow barrier effect on fluid supply, increase the ratio of the effective fluid and reduce the splash and waste of the fluid. In quick-point grinding process, it is the point contact between wheel and workpiece due to the point grinding angles and the thin CBN wheel (Fig. 1), so the airflow layer is very narrow and the airflow barrier effect weakens, the fluid effect is improved greatly, as a result, the grinding fluid supply parameters can be lessened.
Fig. 1 Principle of quick-point grinding
The thickness and pressure of the airflow layer with high rotary speed around the circle edge of grinding wheel is the main factors to influence the fluid effect in high speed grinding, the higher the wheel speed, the thicker the airflow layer is and the higher the pressure of the airflow layer is. According to Bernoulli Equation [2], the dynamic pressure of the airflow layer is given by
where va is the airflow speed [m/s], ρa is the air density [kg/m3]. If the dynamic pressure pa of the airflow layer is measured on the different wheel position, the airflow speed at same position can be calculated. Table1 gives the experiment values of dynamic pressure and speed of air layer. If the diameter of wheel is 600mm and the wheel speed is 30m/s and 60m/s respectively, the measured values of the dynamic pressure and the airflow speed are shown in Table1. It is visible that the dynamic pressure of the airflow layer is increased with increase of the wheel speed.
Table 1 Measured values of dynamic pressure and speed of airflow layer
Fig. 2 shows the distribution of the speed of airflow layer with the distance t between the airflow layer and the wheel edge [3]. The airflow speed is decreased with the increase of the distance between the airflow layer and the wheel, and increased with the increase of wheel speed. The maximum speed of airflow is generated on the circle of the wheel edge and approaches the maximum peripheral wheel speed. But there are the sharper grads of the airflow speed along the radial direction of the wheel. Therefore, the rotary airflow layer with high pressure keeps the grinding zone off grinding fluid and lowers the workpiece integrity and the wheel life due to the fail in the fluid effect. In quick-point grinding process, it is the point contact between wheel and workpiece in theory because the axes of the wheel and the workpiece are unparallel each other (Fig. 1) which is different from the conventional cylindrical grinding, so the cooling condition is better. Because the thin CBN wheel is used in the process, in addition, the airflow layer barrier effect on grinding fluid is weakened.
Calculation of Grinding Fluid Flow
In general, the work of 85%~90% to be absorbed for deformation and friction of materials converts into heat energy at normal temperature [4, 5], namely the thermal effect. For grinding process, the deformation and friction of materials as the main work is generated through the whole process.Therefore, it can be concluded that the most non-elasticity work convert into heat in grinding process. Based on the heat-work balance equation, the flow of grinding fluid is given by
where ρ is the fluid density [kg/m3], N is the grinding power [kW], c is the specific heat [J/kg·K], G is the cooling coefficient that rests with the contact area between wheel and workpiece and the ratio of the effective fluid to enter grinding zone, generally, G is selected in range of 1.0~2.0, Δt is the increment of temperature and selected in range of 5 ~15 ℃. For the grinding fluid supply system (Fig. 3) in quick-point grinding, the larger G can be selected due to the better cooling conditions and the less contact area.
Analysis of Fluid Jet Pressure
To overcome the airflow barrier effect and make the fluid enter contact zone, the grinding fluid jet pressure must fit for the following inequation
where v0 is the fluid jet speed [m/s]. Given the diameter of the fluid jet nozzle, the fluid flow Q is increased with the increase of the fluid jet pressure. On the other hand, the higher the jet pressure of fluid, the heavier the splash and spray of the fluid are, and the more the consumed power is. Therefore, the jet pressure is usually 0.3~3 MPa in high and super-high speed grinding process. In quick-point grinding process, it is the point contact between the wheel and the workpiece in theory because the axes of the wheel and the workpiece are unparallel each other (Fig. 1) which is different from the conventional cylindrical grinding, so the less contact area lowers the grinding heat and force greatly, and improves the cooling performance and the grinding fluid effect. In addition, the thin CBN wheel makes the airflow barrier effect weaken. Therefore, given the fluid jet pressure, the flow can be lessened by reducing the diameter of the jet nozzle to weaken the influence of grinding fluid on environment and improve the greenness of the grinding process.
Calculation of Jet Nozzle Diameter
The fluid flux through the jet nozzle is calculated by
where d0 is the jet nozzle diameter [mm]. Combined Eq.3 with Eq.4, the maximum diameter of jet nozzle is given by
For improving the fluid effect, double nozzles are applied in quick-point grinding process (Fig. 3). Given the fluid flux, the maximum diameter of the primary and secondary jet nozzle is calculated by
In quick-point grinding process, provided that the local area near the contact point was considered only and the curvature effect of the contact arc on the workpiece was omitted, the real contact length may be less than 0.5mm [6], therefore the larger G can be selected due to the better cooling conditions.
Experiment for Effect of Grinding Fluid on Surface Integrity
Experiment Conditions. The experiment conditions are shown in Table 2.
The grinding wheel and fluid system are shown in Fig. 4 and ground workpiece is shown in Fig. 5。The hardness is measured with TH550 Rockwell Hardness Tester at the depth 0.1 mm from the surface.
Analysis of Experiment Results. Given the fluid jet pressure 2 MPa, the ground surface roughness presents a decline trend appreciably with increase of fluid flow at the range of 0~20 L/min, but the decline extent is very less. So the grinding fluid flux is not a main factor to influence the surface roughness under certain fluid jet pressure. Given the fluid jet pressure 2MPa, the ground surface hardness presents a decline trend appreciably with decrease of the fluid flux at the range of 0~20 L/min. Especially in dry grinding, the surface hardness drops observably, which shows that the thermal damage is generated at a certain extent. Consequently, although the dry grinding can be applied in quick-point grinding process some time for high greenness, it is necessary to design the proper grinding fluid supply parameters against the thermal damages in grinding some quenched steels.
Conclusions
(1) In high and super-high grinding speed process, there is the airflow layer with high rotary speed around the circle edge of grinding wheel that hinders the grinding fluid into contact layer. The pressure of the airflow layer increases with raise of the rotary speed of grinding wheel. There are the sharper speed grads in the airflow layer along the radial direction of the wheel.
(2) The less contact area in quick-point grinding makes the grinding heat and force lower observably, and the cooling performance and the grinding fluid effect increase. Due to the thin CBN wheel used, the airflow barrier effect is weakened. Therefore, it is possible to lower the fluid supply parameters in quick-point grinding process for weakening the influence of grinding fluid on environment and improving the greenness of the grinding process.
(3) The grinding fluid flow is not main factor to affect the surface roughness under certain fluid jet pressure. Although the dry grinding can be applied in quick-point grinding process for high greenness, it is necessary to design the proper grinding fluid parameters against the thermal damages in grinding some quenched steels.
Acknowledgments
This research was financially supported by the Science and Technology Foundation of Liaoning Province of China under granted No. 20072030 and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under granted No. 50775032.
References
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Grinding at Very Low Speed
Abstract.
Grinding is a very complex machining process. Single grain grinding methods are useful to study complex grinding action. Very low speed single-grain grinding tests were carried out for 45 steel and 20Cr alloy with 14# ZA grain. The grinding groove width and depth, the grinding force ratio, specific grinding forces, and grain wear and fracture are studied. The plowing decreases with the grinding section area or grinding depth increase. The average tangential force at grain fracture in the experiments is 54.4N; the average normal force at grain fracture is 949.6N. The ratio of tangential-to-normal force varies suddenly when grain fracture.
Introduction
Grinding is a machining process which utilizes a grinding wheel consisting of abrasive grains. It is a very complex process with many variations. In scientific research, complex phenomena are usually abstracted to simple models. The single grain grinding is an important method to study complex grinding action [1-6]. Single grain grinding experiments are useful because with the application of a large load, the extent of damage can be amplified for interpretation while unaffected by interactions
with the damage in surrounding locations undergoing similar processes. The method provides the most detailed picture of the cross-sectional shape of a grinding point. Many scholars, studied the grain wear and crash, the chip formation and the grinding forces with an ideal shape of grain, and obtained some useful conclusions. In this paper, single grain grinding tests for 45 carbon steel and 20Cr alloy with 14# ZA grain (aluminum oxide, 10~15%ZrO2) have been conducted. Grinding force ratio, grain wear and fracture are discussed.
Experimental Condition and Procedure
The experiments have been done on a machine tool in Northeastern University. A single grain is adhered to a bolt. The bolt is installed on the dynamometer device. The device is shown in Fig. 1. The tangential and normal grinding forces are measured by Y82-7 piezoelectricity crystalloid force-sensor (sensitive degree: 4.08pc/N, intrinsic frequency: 30KHZ) and FDH-2T electricity amplifier. The signal is output to CS2092 dynamic testing instrument to note and deal with the data after amplified. In order to reduce noise and improve accuracy, the sensors are prestressed. The dynamometer can be in better condition because of the force prestressed. The calibration is done after the dynamometer device is fixed.
The grain used in the experiments is 14# ZA Aluminum Oxide (10~15%ZrO2). The materials of work is 45 steel (HV hardness, 222 kg/mm2) and 20Cr alloy (HV hardness, 162 kg/mm2).The experimental conditions of single grain grinding is shown in Table 1. The experiments were carried out in atmospheric condition of room temperature 20℃; relative humidity, 40-60%.
Fig. 1 Configuration of single grain grinding test
Table 1 Conditions of test
Results and Discussion
Grinding Groove Morphology. The groove cross section is shown in Fig. 2. w is groove width, and d groove depth. The relationships between groove width and depth under different conditions are shown in Fig. 3. Those relations reflect conditions of grains cutting blade and elastic comeback of groove.
Fig. 2 Cross section of grinding groove
Force Ratio ε. Force ratio can be defined as ε=Ft/Fn, where Ft is tangential force, Fn normal force. Force ratio ε is very useful to study the friction between grain and work, to evaluate grain cutting conditions. For sharp grains, tangential force Ft is mainly used to form chips, Force ratio ε is larger than that for blunt grain. The relationship between force ratio ε and groove cross section area is shown in Fig. 4. As shown in Fig. 4, force ratio ε increase with groove cross section area. This demonstrates that the plowing decreases with grinding section area increase. It indicates that the sliding decreases with the grinding section area or grinding depth increase.
Fig. 3 Scheme of the grind width versus the grind depth of grooves
Fig. 4 Relation between ratio of tangential-to-normal force and groove section area
Specific Grinding Force. Specific grinding force definite as σ’= Fgt/A. Specific grinding force σ’ may reflect characteristic of work material and grain tartness degree. Specific grinding force has the similar physics meaning and the same dimension with specific energy. The specific melting energy of steels is 10.35J/mm3.The specific force for single grain grinding 45 carbon steel and 20Cr alloy is about 12×103N/mm2 at v=2.8cm/s with the cross section area of undeformed chip increase. That value is higher than the specific melting energy of steels.
Fracture of Grain. The actual cutting points on abrasive grains at wheel surface are micro-cutting tools which interact with the work material. The grain fracture can produce new abrade on the grain. That is the foundation of the characteristic of wheel self-sharpen. The ratio of tangential-to-normal force ε varies along the groove in a single pass grinding is shown in Fig. 5. The value of force ratio ε stabilizes in the middle part of the groove. In this period the chips were formed. The force ratio ε varies suddenly at beginning and end. The reason may be micro fracture.
Fig. 5 Ratio of tangential-to-normal force along the groove
Conclusions
Grinding is a very complex machining process with many variations, which utilizes a grinding wheel consisting of abrasive grain. Single grain grinding experiments are useful to study complex grinding action. In this investigation, single-grain grinding tests were carried out for 45 steel and 20Cr alloy with 14# ZA grain. Thetangential-to-normal grinding force ratio increase with groove cross section area. The plowing decreases with the grinding section area increase. The tangential-tonormal grinding force ratio ε varies suddenly when grain fracture. The average tangential force atgrain fracture is 54.4N; the average normal force at grain fracture is 949.6N. The tangential force atgrain fracture for 14# grain is smaller than that for 12# grain.
Acknowledgment
The research is supported by the innovation fund No.2004J003 of young science and technology talent of Fujian province in China, the innovation team fund of Ludong University in China, and the science and technology development fund No.LY200302 of Ludong University in China.
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