Study of the Behavior of Air Flow around a Grinding Wheel under the Application of Pneumatic Barrier

In grinding process, a stiff air layer is generated around the wheel due to rotation of the porous grinding wheel at a high speed. This stiff air layer restricts fluid to reach deep inside the grinding zone. Conventional method of fluid delivery system is not capable of penetrating this stiff air layer, and generally, results in wastage of large amount of grinding fluid that leads to environmental pollution. Several attempts have been made to adopt certain means to improve better penetration of grinding fluid inside the grinding zone. In this work, formation of stiff air layer has been studied experimentally by measuring the variation of air pressure around grinding wheel periphery at different conditions. A pneumatic barrier set-up has been developed first time for restricting the stiff air layer around grinding wheel. The reduction of air pressure around grinding wheel has been observed at various pneumatic pressures. Using the pneumatic barrier, maximum reduction of air pressure up to 53% has been observed experimentally. This pneumatic barrier system reduces deflection of grinding fluid away from wheel, and hence, the reduction in wastage of grinding fluid, leading to less problem related to environment.