Energy Prediction Models and Distributed Analysis of the Grinding Process of Sustainable Manufacturing.

Grinding is a critical surface-finishing process in the manufacturing industry. One of the challenging problems is that the specific grinding energy is greater than in ordinary procedures, while energy efficiency is lower. However, an integrated energy model and analysis of energy distribution during grinding is still lacking. To bridge this gap, the grinding time history is first built to describe the cyclic movement during air-cuttings, feedings, and cuttings. Steady and transient power features during high-speed rotations along the spindle and repeated intermittent feeding movements along the x-, y-, and z-axes are also analysed. Energy prediction models, which include specific movement stages such as cutting-in, stable cutting, and cutting-out along the spindle, as well as infeed and turning along the three infeed axes, are then established. To investigate model parameters, 10 experimental groups were analysed using the Gauss-Newton gradient method. Four testing trials demonstrate that the accuracy of the suggested model is acceptable, with errors of 5%. Energy efficiency and energy distributions for various components and motion stages are also analysed. Low-power chip design, lightweight worktable utilization, and minimal lubricant quantities are advised. Furthermore, it is an excellent choice for optimizing grinding parameters in current equipment.

Finite Element Investigation on Cutting Force and Residual Stress in 3D Elliptical Vibration Cutting Ti6Al4V.

Titanium alloy is a typical difficult-to-machine material with features of superhigh strength and hardness, and low elastic modulus. It is difficult to guarantee the processing quality and efficiency due to the high cutting force and tool wear in conventional cutting. Elliptical vibration cutting (EVC) as an effective method can improve the machinability of titanium alloys. In this paper, the finite element method (FEM) was adopted to study the cutting force and residual stress of 3D EVC in machining of Ti6Al4V. The Johnson-Cook constitutive model was utilized to illustrate the plastic behavior of Ti6Al4V alloy. The kinematics of the 3D EVC was described, and then the influence of various cutting speeds, vibration amplitudes, vibration frequencies and depths of cut on cutting force and residual stress were carried out and analyzed. The simulation results show that the cutting speed, vibration amplitude a, vibration frequency and depth of cut have larger effect on principal force. In addition, the compressive stress layer can be easily obtained near the machined surface by using 3D EVC, which is helpful to improve the working performance of workpiece.

Simulation Analysis of Cluster Effect of High-Shear Low-Pressure Grinding with Flexible Abrasive Tools.

Based on the clustering effect of shear-thickening fluids (STFs), a high-shear low-pressure flexible grinding wheel has been developed. In order to explore the material removal mechanism, the coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian (CEL) method is adopted to simulate the novel grinding process. The simulation results show that particle clustering effects do occur at the tangential and bottom positions of the micro-convex peak when it instantaneously strikes the workpiece surface. The particle clusters drive the harder abrasive particles to resist the strong interactions of micro-convex peaks. The micro-convex peaks are removed due to the cutting effect of the harder abrasive particles. Compared with traditional grinding, the ratio of tangential force to normal force for the high-shear low-pressure flexible grinding wheel is improved. The various trends in force ratio are consistent with the experimental results, which verifies the effectiveness of high-shear low-pressure grinding.

Design and Performance Testing of a Novel Three-Dimensional Elliptical Vibration Turning Device.

A novel three-dimensional (3D) elliptical vibration turning device which is on the basis of the leaf-spring-flexure-hinges-based (LSFH-based) double parallel four-bar linkages (DPFLMs) has been proposed. In order to evaluate the performance of the developed 3D elliptical vibration cutting generator (EVCG), the off-line tests were carried out to investigate the stroke, dynamic performance, resolution, tracking accuracy and hysteresis along the three vibration axes. Experimental results indicate that the maximum stroke of three vibration axes can reach up to 26 µm. The working bandwidth can reach up to 1889 Hz. The resolution and hysteresis tests show that the developed 3D EVCG has a good tracking accuracy, relative high resolution and low hysteresis, which is appropriate for micro/nano machining. Kinematical modeling is carried out to investigate the tool vibration trajectory. Experimental results shown that the simulation results agree well with the experimental one, which indicate that the developed 3D EVCG can be used as an option for micro/nano machining.

Study on Ti-6Al-4V Alloy Machining Applying the Non-Resonant Three-Dimensional Elliptical Vibration Cutting.

The poor machinability of Ti-6Al-4V alloy makes it hard to process by conventional processing methods even though it has been widely used in military and civilian enterprise fields. Non-resonant three-dimensional elliptical vibration cutting (3D-EVC) is a novel cutting technique which is a significant development potential for difficult-to-cut materials. However, few studies have been conducted on processing the Ti-6Al-4V alloy using the non-resonant 3D-EVC technique, the effect of surface quality, roughness, topography and freeform surface has not been clearly researched yet. Therefore, the machinability of Ti-6Al-4V alloy using the non-resonant 3D-EVC apparatus is studied in this paper. Firstly, the principle of non-resonant 3D-EVC technique and the model of cutter motion are introduced. Then the tool path is synthesized. The comparison experiments are carried out with traditional continuous cutting (TCC), two-dimension elliptical vibration cutting (2D-EVC), and the non-resonant 3D-EVC method. The experimental results shown that the excellent surface and lower roughness (77.3 nm) could be obtained using the non-resonant 3D-EVC method; the shape and dimension of elliptical cutting mark also relates to the cutting speed and vibration frequency, and the concave/convex spherical surface topography are achieved by non-resonant 3D-EVC in the Ti-6Al-4V alloy. This proved that the non-resonant 3D-EVC technique has the better machinability compared with the TCC and 2D-EVC methods.