Wear-related topography changes for electroplated cBN grinding wheels and their effect on thermo-mechanical load

Abstract

During the grinding process, a large proportion of the cutting energy is converted into heat. Since not all the heat can dissipate into the cooling lubricant, the material structure of the workpiece can suffer from thermally-induced damage, which has a negative effect on component quality. The generation and distribution of heat is influenced by the change of the grinding wheel topography due to wear. A means of wear analysis for grinding wheel topographies has been developed to describe and explain the wear condition of the grinding wheel and is presented in this paper. For this purpose, creep feed grinding investigations were conducted on bearing steel with electroplated cBN grinding wheels with two different grain specifications. Static and kinematic topography parameters describing the topography changes of the grinding wheels due to wear and their influence on the thermo-mechanical load were investigated in the tests. The static parameters such as the Abbott-Firestone curve or the wear volume make it possible to quanitfy the wear mechanisms. By determining the kinematic topography parameters such as engagement areas or angles, the change in engagement conditions could be derived, which is important for determining the heat flows into the workpiece.