Investigation into the effect of wheel groove depth and width on grinding performance in creep-feed grinding

This work presents an investigation into the effects of different groove depths and groove widths on grinding performance in creep-feed grinding using grinding wheels with spiral-shaped circumferential grooves inscribed around their surface. These grooves had constant widths of 3.2 mm and 1.7 mm, respectively, allowing for the decoupling of groove depth effects from groove width effects. Force, power, and surface roughness data was acquired for each experiment. There were only small differences between the results for force, power, and workpiece surface roughness for both groove widths. It was found that the grinding forces and spindle power initially decreased with increasing groove depth but the reductions in forces and power decreased and eventually leveled off as groove depths increased. For the experimental conditions of this research, it was found that there is little benefit in grooving deeper than ~ 400 μm. Groove depth did not appear to influence workpiece surface roughness significantly. The changes in grinding performance observed at different groove depths were attributed to changes in coolant flow. It was discovered that the coolant-induced force resulting from hydrodynamic pressure in the grinding zone decreased with respect to increasing groove depth up until about 400 μm which is consistent with the results observed for forces and power. The decrease in coolant-induced force signifies an increase in useful flowrate which was believed to be responsible for the improved grinding performance observed at different groove depths.