Laser textured Ti-6Al-4V surfaces and grinding performance evaluation using CBN grinding wheels

Abstract

This study investigates the grinding performance of laser textured Ti-6Al-4V surfaces using CBN grinding wheels. The analysis includes examination of the surface topography and chemistry, grinding force, grinding force ratio, surface roughness, grinding temperature, and grinding wheel wear. Six different texturing patterns with the same parameters of groove pitch, depth, and width are designed and compared to non-textured Ti-6Al-4V. The experimental results indicate that laser texturing the surface produces clear reductions in the grinding force of up to 45–56% and the grinding temperature of up to 41–52% compared to the non-textured surface. The optimal effect among the Ti-6Al-4V samples is found when grinding a sample textured with a cross-helix pattern. The results of this study confirm the feasibility of reducing the difficulty in grinding difficult-to-machine Ti-6Al-4V materials through the application of laser texturing.