Diametrical Wheel Wear Research Articles

Application of the auxiliary wheel cleaning jet in the plunge cylindrical grinding with Minimum Quantity Lubrication technique under various flow rates

Minimum Quantity Lubrication is an alternative technique to conventional techniques that are related to environmental sustainability and economic benefits. This technique promotes the substantial reduction of the amount of coolant employed in machining processes, representing a mitigation of risks to people’s health that are involved with the process. On the other hand, it has been reported in the literature that some problems of using the Minimum Quantity Lubrication technique can impair the grinding efficiency. One of these problems is associated with wheel clogging phenomenon, which is caused by inefficient chip removal from the cutting zone as well as from mixture of metal dust and oil accumulated on the wheel surface during grinding. If chips lodge inside the pores of the grinding wheel as machining progresses, they will adversely affect dimensional and geometric quality of final product. Also, this will require more frequent dressing. A solution for this problem can be an effective cleaning system of the abrasive wheel during grinding with the traditional Minimum Quantity Lubrication technique Assisted with Wheel Cleaning Jet. In this context and aiming to explore the various potential health, environmental and economic benefits that have been widely reported in the literature about the use of Minimum Quantity Lubrication technique in grinding, this study presents an application of the Minimum Quantity Lubrication technique at flow rates (30, 60 and 120 mL/h) and assisted with wheel cleaning jet (Minimum Quantity Lubrication + Assisted with Wheel Cleaning Jet) in plunge grinding of a hardened steel with an aluminum oxide wheel. Experiments were also carried out with traditional Minimum Quantity Lubrication (without wheel cleaning) and with the conventional coolant techniques for comparison. The output variables were geometrical errors (surface roughness and roundness) of the workpiece, diametric wheel wear, acoustic emission, vibration and tangential cutting force. Results showed that Minimum Quantity Lubrication + Assisted with Wheel Cleaning Jet (with wheel cleaning jet) not only outperformed the traditional Minimum Quantity Lubrication technique in all the parameters analyzed, but in some cases it proved to be compatible with the conventional coolant technique under the conditions investigated. Also, most of values of the output parameters tested decreased with increase in flow rate.

Contribution to cylindrical grinding of interrupted surfaces of hardened steel with medium grit wheel

Grinding is generally the first choice to provide combination of both superior surface finish and closer dimensional tolerances in a machined component. This process can be employed in manufacturing of continuous and interrupted surfaces. Crankshafts and engine piston rings are examples of ground precision mechanical components having interrupted surfaces. However, the specific literature about grinding of interrupted surfaces is still scarce. In this context, aiming to further contribute to the understanding of the behavior of surface integrity of interrupted surfaces during grinding, this paper presents an experimental investigation of interrupted surfaces ground with white aluminum oxide grinding wheel. Discs of AISI 4340 hardened steel with different number of grooves (2, 6, and 12) on the external surface were tested. Experiments with discs without interrupted surface were also carried out for comparisons. In addition to the number of grooves, three values of infeed rate (0.25, 0.50, and 0.75 mm/min) were used as input parameters. The output parameters investigated were the geometric errors (surface roughness and roundness) of the workpiece material as well as the diametric wheel wear. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was performed to verify any statistical difference among the output variables. Results showed that both surface finish and roundness of workpieces with interrupted surfaces were higher than those obtained for continuous surface. These parameters also increased with infeed rate up to 0.50 mm/min, whereas the grinding wheel wear was more sensitive to number of grooves and infeed rate. No thermal damages were observed on the machined workpieces under the conditions investigated.

Evaluating the effect of the compressed air wheel cleaning in grinding the AISI 4340 steel with CBN and MQL with water

The application of minimum quantity of lubricant (MQL) in grinding process is a challenging task. Once the MQL is considered an environmentally friendly technique, its implementation in grinding process is interesting to achieve cleaner production. On the other hand, its use brings some problems to the process, such as intensification of grinding wheel clogging phenomenon and increase of cutting temperatures, which impairs on the attainment of a good surface quality, together with dimensional and geometrical accuracy. Looking for improving the MQL efficiency in grinding process, two eco-friendly techniques were found: the addition of water in the MQL and the wheel cleaning system with compressed air. The present research seeks to evaluate the improvement of MQL application in grinding using the combination of these techniques. Both techniques MQL + water and wheel cleaning system are innovative, since there are almost no articles in literature citing its use. The experiments were performed in an external cylindrical plunge grinding using a vitrified cubic boron nitrite (CBN) grinding wheel. The workpiece material was a quenched and tempered AISI 4340 steel. The cooling methods employed in the process were a conventional method (flood coolant), MQL + water (1:1, 1:3, 1:5 part of oil per parts of water), MQL + water + cleaning system (1:1, 1:3, 1:5 part of oil per parts of water), and MQL with and without cleaning system. Results were analyzed based on some workpiece parameters (roughness, roundness deviation, and microstructure) and on diametrical wheel wear and grinding power. The addition of water allied to cleaning system with compressed air provided the best results among those using the MQL technique, with results comparable to the conventional cooling method.

MQL with water in cylindrical plunge grinding of hardened steels using CBN wheels, with and without wheel cleaning by compressed air

Minimum quantity of lubricant (MQL) in grinding is an alternative for reducing abundant fluid flow and both environmental and health hazards when compared with conventional fluid application. In spite of the fact that MQL is considered an innovative cost-effective and environmentally friendly technique, when used in grinding its inadequate application can increase cutting temperature and wheel clogging, worsening surface roughness, and increasing geometric and dimensional errors. The present study aims to evaluate improvements in MQL in grinding using MQL + water (1:1, 1:3, and 1:5 parts of oil per parts of water), when compared to MQL without water and conventional cooling-lubrication technique. Wheel cleaning by compressed air was also tested, aimed for unclogging of the wheel pores. The tests were performed in a plunge cylindrical grinder with CBN wheel and workpieces of AISI 4340 for different feed rates. The ground workpieces were analyzed with respect to the surface roughness, roundness errors, microhardness, and microscopic changes. In addition, tangential cutting force and diametric wheel wear were investigated. The results observed for the MQL plus water in the proportion of 1:5, with wheel cleaning system (at 30° inclination angle of the air nozzle) were the best, when compared to MQL without water, and close to the conventional flood coolant, implying that this technique is a potential alternative for cooling-lubrication when applied properly.

Utilization of minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) with water in CBN grinding of steel

The use of cutting fluids is fundamental to machining processes, mainly when it comes to high heat generation, which is the case of grinding. Thus, lubrication and cooling provided by cutting fluids improve the final quality of the workpiece. However, cutting fluid usage provide some drawbacks concerning environmental, costs and health issues. Therefore, new methods for application and optimization of cutting fluids are being researched aiming to reduce the amount of fluid used, as well as the minimization of cutting fluid hazards. The present study analyzes the behavior of a recently proposed optimization method, up to now only tested in turning, which consists of adding water to minimum quantity lubrication (MQL). Three different proportions were tested in this study: 1/1, 1/3 and 1/5 parts of oil per parts of water. The following output variables were evaluated: surface roughness, roundness errors, grinding power and diametric wheel wear. Also, optical microscopy and microhardness measurements were conducted, in order to detect burns and surface alterations. The obtained results were also compared to conventional (flood coolant) cooling-lubrication and traditional MQL (without water). MQL with water (1/5) presented better results of surface roughness and roundness errors, when compared to traditional MQL, and the results are very close to when using flood coolant. For grinding power and wheel wear, the results for MQL with water (1/5) were the best among the tested conditions.

Improving minimum quantity lubrication in CBN grinding using compressed air wheel cleaning

The application of minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) in grinding has emerged as an alternative for reducing the abundant flow of cutting fluids, thus achieving cleaner production. Although considered an innovative technique in grinding operations, its widespread application is hindered due primarily to the high heat generation and wheel pore clogging caused by machined chips, harming the final product quality and increasing tool wear on the machine. This study sought to improve MQL use in grinding. In addition to the conventional MQL injected at the wheel/workpiece interface, a compressed air jet was used to clean the mixture of MQL oil and machined chips from clogged wheel pores. Experiments were conducted using external cylindrical plunge grinding on AISI 4340 quenched and tempered steel, and a vitrified cubic boron nitrite (CBN) wheel. The cooling-lubrication methods employed were the conventional flood coolant application, MQL (without cleaning), and MQL with a cleaning jet directed at the wheel surface at different angles of incidence. The main goal of these experiments was to verify the viability of replacing the traditional abundant flow of cutting fluid with MQL and wheel cleaning. The analyses were conducted by measuring the following output variables of the process: workpiece surface roughness and roundness errors, diametrical wheel wear, acoustic emission generated by the process, and metallographic images of the ground surface and subsurface. Results show the positive effects of implementing the cleaning jet technique as a technological improvement of minimum quantity lubrication in grinding in order to reduce the usage of cutting fluids. The MQL technique with cleaning compressed air jet, for a specific angle of incidence (30°), proved to be extremely efficient in the improvement of the surface quality and accurate workpiece shape; it also reduced wheel wear when compared to the other cooling-lubrication methods that were tested (without a cleaning jet).