CAREER: Cost-Effective Precision Form Grinding of Advanced Materials

North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC

Investigators

Abstract

The goals of this research grant are to study two precision form grinding technologies for advanced materials and to develop web-based mechanical engineering design courses for undergraduate and graduate education. The increased utilization of advanced materials, complexity of parts, and the requirements of tighter form tolerances and surface finish along with the pressure to reduce cost demand the development of new cost-effective form grinding technologies. Diamond, the hardest material known to exist, has long been recognized as the only abrasive that works effectively in the grinding of ceramics and other advanced materials. The generation of micrometer-scale precision forms on diamond wheels has proven difficult due to the excess wear of the diamond tool during truing of diamond grinding wheels. This study plans to investigate the use of the cylindrical wire Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) process to generate the desired form on a rotating metal bond diamond wheel and to use the conventional abrasive on low thermal conductivity ceramic materials, such as zirconia. Research tasks include analysis of the chip formation mechanism in grinding, modeling the energy partition and grinding temperature, studying the erosion mechanism for cylindrical wire EDM of metal bond diamond wheels, and thermal modeling of cylindrical wire EDM of metal bond diamond wheels. The success of this research project will lead to a better understanding of the cylindrical wire EDM process and to the development of a new mechanism for grinding low thermal conductivity ceramic materials. These results will help lower the cost and improve the accuracy of machining components made of advanced materials. The Internet technology will be used extensively to disseminate and integrate the results in the proposed web-based course development. It will offer rapid and efficient access to knowledge and information in machine and process design and development.