Pressure distribution of serrated contact wheels—experimental and numerical analysis

Abstract

Serrated contact wheels are widely used in robotic surface finishing process. This paper studies the pressure distribution at the interface between a serrated contact wheel and a workpiece, which is a key factor influencing the material removal process. Finite element models are developed to simulate different contact scenarios of the serrated wheels during the robotic finishing process. The effects of neoprene rubber materials, which introduce compliant property in serrated contact wheels are investigated in detail. The experimental work has been conducted to verify the pressure distributions obtained from the finite element analysis and to observe the behavior of the pressure distribution for two types of contact wheels of the same diameter, namely serrated type and flat type. This effort provides insights into industrial applications and the usefulness of finite element models in terms of compliant contact wheels for robotic surface finishing processes.