An experimental investigation and analysis of the surface characterisation of the surface grinding process

Grinding is an important operation for finishing of machined component. The grinding operation is carried out on a machine having a grinding wheel which is made of bonded abrasive particles. The properties of a grinding wheel are mainly governed by the two constituents, i.e. bond material and abrasive particles. Controllable machine parameters such as depth of cut, wheel and table speed as well as properties of the grinding wheel will determine the kind of workpiece surface characteristics that can be achieved. This project is carried out to study the influence of the dressing conditions on the surface grinding of plastic mould steel 618T. The wheel topography is known to be greatly influenced by truing and dressing conditions that the wheel is subjected to. Therefore, preparing the wheel using the truing and dressing method is necessary to ensure that the abrasive grains are both exposed and sharpened for subsequent cutting. The influence of the speed at which the dressing tool goes across the grinding wheel and the depth of contact between the grinding wheel and the dresser are the main factors which determine the wheel topography. The workpiece surface and the replicas of the surface of the grinding wheel before and after grinding were using the surface profiler instrument so that the grinding wheel can be better understood from characterising the topography of the wheel and workpiece. The data collected during this project will provide a platform for further research on grinding the plastic mould steel 618T with aluminium oxide grinding wheel. Using slower dressing speed and deeper dressing depth to dress the wheel produces smoother workpiece surface finish to the contrary. However, the difference between the surface finish of workpiece using different depths of dressing is very small when compared to varying the speed of dressing. Therefore, it can be concluded by the dressing depth has little influence on the surface finish of workpiece while dressing speed plays a more significant role in it.Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering