Grinding wheel grooving: an innovative solution to increase grinding productivity

Grinding is one of the most essential and costly manufacturing processes accounting for about 25% of the total machining expenditures in industrialized countries. Virtually every manufacturing company in the world relies on the grinding process to create components with precise dimensions and high-quality surface finishes. Grinding is of strategic importance to the Canadian economy because it is critical to myriad industries including the automotive, aerospace, shipbuilding, food, energy and medical industries - yet there are very few grinding researchers in Canada.

To address this need, the overall goals of my research program are to contribute to the fundamental understanding of the grinding process using both conventional and super-abrasive grinding wheels and to continue to develop novel grinding technologies that can be transferred to Canadian industry to improve the productivity, reliability and quality of the grinding process. For example, by applying new coolant delivery techniques to the grinding process my research has enabled a Canadian aerospace company to significantly increase their productivity. Recently, my research group has discovered that inscribing spiral-shaped grooves around the surface of a flat (non-profile) grinding wheel can further improve grinding productivity by enabling up to 120% more material to be removed while still maintaining high-quality workpiece finishes. We have also developed a corresponding innovative and practical grinding wheel grooving system that can be readily retrofitted onto existing grinding machines (including both manual and computer numerical control grinders) making it easily transferrable to Canadian industry.

The specific objective of the proposed research is to build upon my successful flat (non-profile) grinding wheel grooving research by enabling profile grinding wheels to be grooved. Profile grinding allows complex shapes to be machined into very hard materials such as superalloys, high-carbon steels and ceramics. The ability to groove profile wheels will enable the tangible benefits of grooving to become available to a much wider range of grinding applications in industry including jet engine rotors and blades, gears, bearing raceways, drill bits and cutters.

Key outcomes of the proposed research are to develop:1. innovative and practical grooving solutions for profile grinding wheels 2. corresponding grinding computer simulators that can determine optimal wheel grooving geometries, re-grooving intervals and process parameters for flat and, ultimately, profile grinding wheels

I have a solid track record of success in this field and the proposed grinding wheel grooving research will continue to make significant contributions to the advancement of grinding technology and will establish and develop Canadian expertise through the training of highly-qualified personnel in this precision machining process.