Improvement in grinding of composite ceramic by using cryogenic cooling technique

Ceramic materials are getting widely used in many engineering applications. These ceramic materials need to be ground to obtain desired dimensional accuracy and surface finish for engineering components. However, the ground ceramic components mostly contain surface/subsurface microcraks, temperature induced residual tensile stresses and other types of surface damages. The performance and reliability of ground ceramic components are often influenced by grinding induced damages. Thus cooling and lubrication is especially important to ensure superior workpiece quality in grinding. The current study aims to improve the grindability aspects of the newly developed composite ceramic (AlSiTi) by application of cryogen in the form of liquid nitrogen jet. The research work deals with the analysis of the process parameters such as wheel speed, table feed and depth of cut, as the influential factors, on the force components, grinding specific energy and surface roughness values based on Taguchi's experimental design method. Grinding induced surface and subsurface damages have been analysed by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results have been compared with the results obtained in the dry grinding. The analysis of result provides valuable insight into the grindability aspects of the composite ceramic (AlSiTi) especially under cryogenic environment.