Theoretical and experimental investigation of

material removal mechanism in compliant

shape adaptive grinding process
Modeling of grinding process, especially the grinding forces, has been studied
extensively. Most previous work concerns the conventional grinding process using a
rigid wheel, where the forces are generally based on the preset depth of grinding.
However, for compliant grinding such as Shape Adaptive Grinding (SAG) that adopts
an elastic tool covered with abrasive pellets, the penetration depth of individual
abrasive grains is not simply equal to the present value. As elastic contact occurs
between the tool and work piece, previous models are not able to estimate the material
removal mechanism. Besides, the progressive transitions in grain-work piece
interaction for compliant cutting tools have not been reported yet. To fill these gaps
and to offer a fundamental understanding of the compliant grinding process, we
propose in this study a new multi-scale model spanning from macroscopic tool-work
piece contact to microscopic grain-work piece interaction in the unique conditions of
using a compliant grinding tool, i.e. SAG tool. Based on the spring-grain model and
considering the stochastic nature of grain size and wear flat area, the static penetration
and dynamic removal of individual grain can be predicted. Particularly, the removal
mechanism is clarified with a new consideration of the transition between rubbing,
plowing and cutting stages for each individual grain of the compliant tool.
Experiments including scratch tests and removal footprints were carried out, and the
high consistency with theoretical predictions validates the proposed model. Finally,
considering the progressive abrasive wear in grinding, in-process wear compensation
was conducted to enable consistent material removal on aspheric steel molds. The
proposed method is not only meaningful to reveal the mechanism of SAG process, but
also offers a new foundation for studying other compliant grinding processes in
future.