On the mechanics of the grinding process, Part II—thermal analysis of fine grinding

Abstract

Thermal analysis of fine grinding is conducted taking into consideration the stochastic nature of the distribution of abrasive grains and its role under fine grinding (dry) conditions to determine the grinding temperatures and the heat partition at the contacting interface. The analysis considers the grain–workpiece interactions at the local level and the wheel–workpiece interactions at the global level. The workpiece temperature in the grinding zone is taken as the sum of the background temperature due to distributed action of all the previous active grains operating in the grinding zone (global thermal analysis) and the localized temperature spikes experienced at the current abrasive grain tip–workpiece interfaces (local thermal analysis), similar to the work reported in the literature. Since the Peclet number, N Pe, in the case of fine grinding is very high (a few hundred), the heat flow between the work and the contacting abrasive grains can be considered to be nearly one-dimensional. In this paper, we consider the interaction between an abrasive grain and the workpiece at the contact interface. Consequently, the heat source relative to the grain is stationary and relative to the workpiece is fast moving. The interface heat source on the grain side as well as on the workpiece side is equivalent to an infinitely large plane heat source (with the same heat liberation intensity as the circular disc heat source). However, it will be shown in the paper that the contacting times are different. For example, the abrasive grain contacts the heat source, as it moves over the interface, for a longer period of time (~milliseconds) whereas the workpiece contacts the heat source for a shorter period of time (~a few microseconds). The equivalent thermal model developed in the present investigation is simple and represents the process more realistically, especially the heat partition. The analytical results reported here are found to be in good agreement with both the analytical and experimental results reported in the literature by other researchers.