Discretization of the contact conditions considering the grain engagement for generating gear grinding

Abstract

Generating gear grinding is a hard finishing process mainly used to meet the high requirements for gears in terms of geometry and surface quality. However, due to the high friction generated in the contact zone, high temperatures are achieved, which might cause thermal damages. To avoid the generation of these damages, an analysis of the resulting energy conversion is recommended. The energy conversion is significantly influenced by the interaction between each grain engaging with the material in the contact zone. However, current approaches for energy description do not take into consideration the grinding tool topography due to the random and complex distribution of the grains in terms of position and shape in the contact zone. For the specific case of generating gear grinding the challenge is increased due to the complex contact conditions induced by the process kinematics. The objective of this work is the investigation of the influence of the grains on the material removal behavior and the implementation of this influence on a generating gear grinding energy model. The research is focused on an empirical investigation of a single-grain trial and on the transferability of the findings first onto an analogy trial with surface grinding process and last onto an analogy of the continuous generating gear grinding process. The energy was analyzed in terms of normal force during generating gear grinding. An alternative approach for the modelling of the normal force taking into consideration the tool topography for the process of generating gear grinding was developed. According to the results, the alternative approach for the calculation of the normal force presented in this work showed a promising method, even though further optimization is still required. Ultimately, the alternative approach for normal force calculation can be further developed for the thermo-mechanical energy determination for generating gear grinding process.