Experimental research on the energy ratio coefficient and specific grinding energy in nanoparticle jet MQL grinding

Nanoparticles are solid nanoscale particles with features such as antiwear, antifriction, and high load-carrying capacity. This research applied nanoparticles in the cooling lubrication of grinding and theoretically analyzed the impact of cooling lubrication on the grinding surface through the energy ratio coefficient and specific grinding energy. First, the workpiece surface temperature was measured using a thermal infrared imager. A three-dimensional dynamometer was used to identify the tangential grinding force during grinding. Results showed that, with different cooling lubrication approaches, the grinding surface was distributed to workpiece, grinding wheel, grinding fluid, and abrasive debris according to different energy ratio coefficients. The calculation demonstrated that the energy ratio coefficient of dry grinding reached 64.3 %. However, the energy ratio coefficient of flood lubrication, minimal quantities of lubricant (MQL), and nanoparticle jet MQL was 36.8, 52.1, and 41.4 %, respectively. These findings indicated that nanoparticle jet MQL realized a cooling effect close to that of flood lubrication. The specific grinding energy of nanoparticle jet MQL was 35 J/mm(3), which was close to that of flood lubrication at 29.8 J/mm(3). This finding indicated that the lubrication effects of nanoparticle jet MQL were also similar to those of flood lubrication. Moreover, molybdenum disulfide, carbon nanotube (CNT), and zirconium oxide nanoparticles were added in the grinding fluid to conduct the grinding experiment with nanoparticle jet MQL. The comparison of energy ratio coefficients showed that the cooling performance of CNT nanoparticles was satisfactory. CNT nanoparticles were subsequently added into the grinding fluid at the volume concentrations of 1, 2, and 3 % for the grinding experiment. The results showed that the best cooling effects occurred under the 2 % volume concentration of CNT nanoparticles. Through rounds of selections and optimizations, our research acquired the nanoparticle types and volume concentration that had satisfactory cooling effects and should therefore be added in the grinding fluid.