Influence of the cutting direction angle on the tool wear behavior in face plunge grinding of PcBN

Abstract

Polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PcBN) is a highly wear resistant material. Due to its high hardness this material is typically machined with diamond grinding tools. The high hardness and high-temperature hardness of PcBN leads to a significant grinding tool wear. The applied cutting direction angle during face plunge grinding offers the possibility to influence the geometry of the contact area between the grinding tool and the PcBN workpiece. However, the underlying principal mechanisms and influences of parameters are not fully understood today. The contact zone geometry is described by the width of cut and the geometric contact length. The paper provides a mathematical description of these two parameters for S-shapes PcBN cutting inserts depending on the workpiece geometry and the cutting direction angle. It is shown that the contact length significantly determines the wear mechanism.