Experimental study on ultrasonic vibration-assisted grinding of hardened steel using white corundum wheel

Abstract Ultrasonic vibration assisted grinding (UVAG) combined with the ultrasonic vibrating method and CG process was proposed, aiming at improving the grindability of hardened steel in conventional grinding (CG) process. Comparative investigations on grinding force, temperature, and specific grinding energy for both grinding processes were studied in detail. In addition, the morphologies of wheel wear surface and ground surface were also conducted. Findings show that in comparison of CG processes, the grinding forces in UVAG are reduced greatly by 16.44% and 17.44%, for normal and tangential forces, respectively. The UVAG process attributes to a lower specific grinding energy by 8.30% owing to the increase of maximum undeformed chip thickness, and a smaller grinding temperature by 19.01% due to the improvement of coolant heat transfer capacity in the grinding arc zone. Meanwhile, the promising grain sharpness of wheels can be guaranteed, resulting from the enhanced cooling function on grinding arc zone and grains micro-fracture caused by ultrasonic impacting actions.