Experimental study on ultrasonic vibration-assisted grinding of hardened steel using white corundum wheel

The combination of ultrasonic vibration-assisted grinding (UVAG), the ultrasonic vibrating method, and the conventional grinding (CG) process is proposed to improve the grindability of hardened steel in the CG process. Comparative investigations on grinding force, temperature, and specific grinding energy for both grinding processes were conducted. In addition, the morphologies of the wheel wear and ground surfaces were also studied. Findings show that compared with the CG processes, the normal and tangential grinding forces in UVAG are reduced greatly by 16.44% and 17.44%, respectively. The UVAG process decreases the specific grinding energy by 8.30% owing to the increase of the maximum undeformed chip thickness and the grinding temperature by 19.01% due to the improvement of the coolant heat transfer capacity in the grinding arc zone. Meanwhile, the promising grain sharpness of wheels can be guaranteed from the enhanced cooling function on the grinding arc zone and the grain’s micro-fracture caused by ultrasonic impacting actions.