Thermal investigations on eccentric sleeve grinding of fibre reinforced composites

Abstract

Thermal driven damages are one of the major concerns while machining fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. Though cutting of fibre-matrix system using abrasive grains exhibited promising outcomes, conventional surface grinding (CSG) still poses the barriers of undesired surface damages on FRPs. High magnitudes of grinding forces due to continuous interaction of cutting edges, particularly at higher levels of depths of cut, leads to successive accumulation of heat flux in CSG and thereby, the thermal damages on fibre-matrix system may get enhanced. Eccentric Sleeve Grinding (ESG) is a unique grinding strategy proposed for FRPs, which adopts a progressive-intermittent cutting scheme capable of reducing grinding temperature and thermally triggered damages. Main focus of this paper is to investigate the thermal aspects of eccentric sleeve grinding and develop an analytical model for grinding temperature in ESG. Considering the unique cutting scheme followed by abrasive grains during their interaction with FRP, a progressively distributed-moving heat source model is introduced. The model is capable of predicting grinding temperature on FRP surfaces, during CSG as well as ESG at various grinding conditions, and thereby illustrates the merits of proposed ESG scheme. A thermal flux model using a cylindrical surface source is also introduced to study the temperature generated at the grinding wheel during its interaction with FRP. This paper also presents an attempt of 3D grinding simulation, both in ESG and CSG mode, with realistic modelling of CFRP and grinding wheel using Composite Modeler in ABAQUS. Thorough experimental investigation, incorporating the measurement of grinding force and temperature, is also covered to demonstrate ESG process and its thermal performance on Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composites. 30 % and 10 % reduction, respectively, in average and peak grinding temperature during ESG of CFRP and subsequent reduction in thermal damages opens great avenues for industrial applications.