Analysis of abrasive belt wear effect on residual stress distribution on a grinding surface

Owing to elastic grinding and other favorable processing characteristics, belt grinding has been widely used in many industrial applications, including machining titanium alloys of difficult-to-cut metals. Abrasive belt wear inevitably occurs in the grinding process, but its mechanism and effects have not been fully understood, especially its effect on the residual stress (RS). To overcome this shortcoming, this study experimentally investigates the abrasive wear influence on the surface RS distribution of titanium plate belt grinding through a synthetic cause analysis. First, abrasive belts with different wear stages are prepared according to the wear law throughout the abrasive belt life cycle, and their wear degrees are quantitatively evaluated. Then, comparative grinding experiments of the TC4 flat plate are conducted using the prepared abrasive belts. Finally, the surface RS distribution of the grinding traces and stress differences induced by the abrasive belt wear are analyzed and discussed comprehensively. The results indicate that the more severe the abrasive belt wear is, the greater the accumulation of grinding heat and the greater the ratio of the grinding energy will be, which will further lead to residual tensile stress (RTS) generation, especially in the grinding direction. In addition, owing to the fast heat dissipation on both sides of the contact wheel, the surface RS along the grinding traces' vertical direction obeys an approximately symmetrical distribution, having low values on the sides and a peak in the middle. The strong accumulation of grinding heat caused by severe wear makes the difference between the stress distribution extremums increase with the abrasive belt wear. • σ t has a symmetrical distribution of low on both sides and high on the middle. • The above σ t distribution is due to different heat dissipation on contact spot. • Consistency of σ t and σ t distributions rises as abrasive belt wear intensifies. • Increased abrasive belt wear causes σ t to develop towards tensile stress. • Increased abrasive belt wear causes σ a to develop towards compressive stress.