Grinding of TiC particle-reinforced steel-matrix composite GT35 with small diameter grinding rods

Abstract

Side milling experiments with small diameter grinding rods were carried out on TiC particle-reinforced steel-matrix composite to investigate the reasonable machining parameters and the cooling and lubrication conditions for this material, and to understand the influence of machining parameters on cutting forces, surface quality and tool wear. The results show that dry cutting and water-based synthetic grinding fluids lubrication are not as effective as extreme pressure grinding oil lubrication, especially that dry cutting causes tool burn. With extreme pressure grinding oil lubrication, the tool wear is stable after 12 minutes of continuous grinding, the main wear forms of which are fracture of abrasive grain wear, abrasive grain breakage and abrasive grain shedding. It is also found that the influence of spindle speed on cutting force is greater than that of feed speed, namely higher spindle speed leading to smaller cutting force, and that the machined surface roughness is mainly related to the level of tool abrasive grain but less affected by spindle speed and feed speed. In conclusion, when grinding TiC particle-reinforced steel-matrix composites, the conditions of extreme pressure grinding oil lubrication, high spindle speed and medium feed rate are recommended to obtain good tool life, surface quality and appropriate processing efficiency.

Keywords

• titanium carbide particle-reinforced steel matrix composites
• grinding
• cooling and lubrication
• tool wear
• process characteristics