Experimental study on grinding-induced residual stress in C-250 maraging steel

Abstract

Residual stress plays a significant role in the performance of a part, while the residual stress in the ground maraging steel, which is often used in the manufacture of precision parts, is rarely mentioned. In order to understand the variations of residual stress in ground maraging steel and provide insight into the controlled-stress grinding process of the steel, the surface and subsurface residual stress distributions in ground C-250 maraging steel (3J33) were studied. The results show that the mechanical effects dominate the thermal effects in the dry grinding process, indicated by only compressive residual stress generated in the ground workpiece. Furthermore, more insights into the residual stress distribution were provided by proposing four residual stress distribution parameters including surface residual stress, peak compressive residual stress, the depth of peak compressive residual stress, and residual stress penetration depth. The variations of these parameters were comprehensively studied. Results show that the surface residual stress and peak compressive residual stress depend greatly on the grinding speed and higher grinding speed generates larger compressive residual stress, while the depth of peak compressive residual stress varies slightly with the grinding parameters. The residual stress penetration depth increases with the increase of the grinding speed and grinding depth, and decreases with the increase of the workpiece speed. The results in this study can be used to assist in controlled-stress grinding applications for high performance critical parts of maraging steel.