Effect of Radial Directional Vibration-Assisted Ductile-Mode Grinding of Al2O3 Ceramics

This paper proposes a machining method that uses ultrasonic vibration in the radial direction of the grinding wheel. This method is expected to suppress machining heat because the wheel and workpiece are in intermittent contact with each other. The abrasive grains on the working surface of the wheel act dynamically in the direction of cutting into the workpiece. In this paper, the constant-load grinding of Al2O3 ceramics, a hard and brittle material, was performed. Ductile-mode surfaces were more easily obtained when vibration support was used. The standard deviation of the brightness distribution of the ground surface can be used to evaluate the ductile-mode surface. In this study, the value was less than 16. The results of the measurement of tangential/normal grinding force ratio and the rear-surface temperature of the workpiece confirmed that the values were higher when ductile-mode machining was performed, compared with brittle-mode machining. Furthermore, a vibration-assisted removal model was used to discuss the results of the ductile-mode surfaces, which were more easily obtained when vibration-assisted machining was used.