Effect of grinding parameters on acoustic emission signals while grinding ceramics

Grinding process of engineering ceramics is always accompanied by cracking. For automation of machining process it is necessary that a reliable sensing system be devised to detect the workpiece cracking during grinding. In this paper an acoustic emission (AE) sensor was examined for in-process detection of workpiece conditions. Different grinding conditions were performed for evaluation of sensitivity of AE and understanding the effect of each grinding parameter on AE activities during grinding process of alumina ceramics. The results of experiments indicate that AE activities increase with increasing wheel depth of cut and table speed, however when the wheel speed increases, AE activities decrease. As a result, it is shown that AE is basically a function of abrasive grain depth of cut which is in turn, the main factor for determining the surface integrity of fine ceramics.