Temperatures and Energy Partition for Grinding with Vitrified CBN Wheels

Abstract

An investigation is reported of the temperatures and energy partition for grinding with vitrified CBN wheels. Temperature distributions were measured in the subsurface of hardened bearing steel workpieces using an embedded thermocouple during grinding with a water soluble fluid at specific removal rates from 5 to 60 mm 2/s. The energy partition to the workpiece and heat flux distribution within the grinding zone were estimated using temperature matching and inverse heat transfer analyses. In all cases, the maximum grinding zone temperature rise was less than 120°C. The energy partition to the workpiece was found to be only 4.0 to 8.5%. Such low energy partitions are consistent with a thermal model which takes into account conduction to the workpiece, conduction to the abrasive grains, and cooling of the workpiece by the fluid at the grinding zone.