Slot and Vertical Face Grinding of Aerospace Components

Workpiece profile accuracy, wheel wear, and thermal damage were investigated for the grinding of slots and vertical faces on MAR-M-247, Inconel 713C, and M-2 tool steel using both alumina and cubic boron nitride (CBN) grinding wheels. It was found when grinding with alumina wheels that the wheel corner and first 2.5 mm of the grinding wheel sidewall account for all the grinding forces in the vertical, horizontal, and transverse directions, and therefore is responsible for all the significant grinding done on the sideface of the workpiece. Since previous work links wheel wear and workpiece thermal damage during grinding to grinding forces, this finding suggests that the area around the wheel corner is the critical region of importance in grinding these types of profiles in terms of wheel wear and the heat input to the workpiece. These, in turn, are linked to workpiece profile accuracy and metallurgical damage. Results also show that striation marks inherent in sidewall grinding can be minimized by controlling the maximum normal infeed rate of the wheel. A method for minimizing the heat input into the workpiece by minimizing grinding force during vertical face grinding is also reported.