Characterization of Diamond Electrodeposited Tool for Vibration Assisted Grinding Diagnostic

Abstract

Causal analysis of diamond electrodeposited tools surface topography to the variation of grinding results is required to clarify the variations in grinding results of its application in ultrasonic vibration assisted grinding (UVAG) for steel mirror finishing. On the other hands, reference datum as defined by existing surface topography standard is not suitable and may lead to fruitless conclusion in relation to the DET characterization. This study aims to characterize the DET surface topography in relation to its performance in UVAG for steel mirror finishing. In this paper, samples of DET tool-work pairs are obtained from constant condition UVAG grinding test. The whole surface of DET surface topography is captured in one measurement using con-focal laser microscope and stitching toolbox. Surface Reversal Method is proposed to obtain the reference datum for the identification of active grains (diamond grains which actually involved in the grinding) on the DET working surface based on the most protruded grains from the surface. Based on the protrusion depth, this study found that only small number of grains can be considered as active grains. Then, each DET is characterized based on the distance of active grain to the tool rotational centre (active grain locusRg). As a result, it is clarified that there is a non-linear relationship between the active grain locusRgand work surface roughness Sq. There is an optimum size of active grain locusRgfor current grinding condition and for larger or smallerRg, higher work roughnessSqis observed. Additionally, observation using high magnification white light interferometer on the work surface topography for each sample showed the existence of ultrasonic vibration marks with the marks wavelength consistence to the size of active grain locusRgof the DET, which also validates the methodology used for DET characterization.