Study on High-Shear and Low-Pressure Grinding Using Super-Elastic Composite Abrasive Tool (ECAT) for Curved Inconel718 Workpiece

Inconel718 alloy is widely used in the manufacture of curved parts in aviation and aerospace domain due to its excellent thermal and structural properties. The traditional grinding methods frequently results in low machinability such as grinding burns, surface scratches and clogging in grinding wheel for difficult-to-machine materials. In this work, to eliminate the undesirable outcomes of conventional grinding process, high-shear and low-pressure precision grinding of complex curved Inconel718 workpiece was proposed using specially developed super-elastic composite abrasive tool (ECAT). That was attached to the in-house developed machining system. The influence of composition parameters in various abrasive layers on surface roughness and material removal depth were investigated. The optimal composition parameter of the abrasive layer was determined. The surface morphology, surface profile of the workpiece under different grinding strokes, and grinding force were examined during the high-shear and low-pressure grinding process. The ECAT grinding characteristics were verified at high-shear and low-pressure regime. It was found that the ground surface roughness decreased from initial 306.4 to 50.0 nm after only 8 grinding strokes under the optimal conditions. Also, the surface quality of Inconel718 alloy specimen was significantly enhanced with excellent profile accuracy. It was validated that the high-shear and low-pressure grinding with the developed ECAT was an effective precision machining process for the complex curved parts made of the difficult-to-machine materials.