Force modeling of vertical surface grinding considering wheel-workpiece contact geometry

Vertical surface grinding (VSG) is an effective method that can adapt to multiple machining tasks, including stock removal machining to get high productivity and finish machining to obtain high-quality surfaces. Force prediction can reveal some mechanisms in the VSG process, conducing to the improved machining quality and efficiency. This paper aims to develop a novel analytical force model considering the actual wheel-workpiece contact geometry (WWCG). In the modeling process, the cup grinding wheel was divided into many microcutting layers along the wheel axis, and the expressions of geometrical-kinematic parameters were derived to characterize the material removal at different positions of the primary grinding zone (PGZ). A single-grain grinding force model was proposed based on chip formation and plastic pile-up mechanisms from an energy perspective. Based on the analysis of multiple-grain interactions at each micro-cutting layer, equations of the local and total grinding forces in the VSG process were then derived by synthesizing the single-grain forces. Findings show that the developed model could accurately predict the magnitudes of total grinding forces and provide the distributions of local grinding forces. The WWCG variation could significantly affect the grinding forces by altering the material removal rate of different micro-cutting layers. This work provides a new method for predicting grinding forces and theoretical guidance for optimizing machining parameters and tailoring the edge profiles of cup grinding wheels to adapt to specific machining tasks.