Upper bound analysis for specific energy in grinding of ceramics

Abstract

The present research was undertaken to investigate grinding mechanisms and energy for ceramics. Previous research has shown that material removal for grinding of ceramics occurs mainly by brittle fracture, although most of the grinding energy is associated with ductile plowing aside into ridges. In the present paper, an attempt is made to account for the specific grinding energy and its dependence on the grit depth of cut by modifying a previous upper-bound plowing model to include the effect of rounding at the tip of the triangular-shaped cutting tool. Using this approach, the shape of the cross-sectional cutting profile is calculated which matches the upper bound solution to experimental measurements of the specific grinding energy. The results show that rounding at the tip of a cutting tool can account for an increase in specific energy with smaller depths of cut. For grinding of HPSN with a 400 grit diamond wheel, the calculated cross-sectional cutting profile was found to be consistent with results for the cutting point geometry previously reported.