Surface morphology in high-speed grinding of TMCs fabricated by selective laser melting

TiC-reinforced titanium matrix composites (TMCs) are typically difficult-to-machine materials. It is prospective to combine the advantages of selective laser melting (SLM) and high-speed grinding to manufacture TMCs parts. This study investigates the surface morphology in high-speed grinding of TMCs fabricated by SLM. Grinding experiments with 28.75–232.66 m/s are conducted. Two surface features are found in the ground surface of TMCs, i.e. smearing at low grinding speeds and scratch at high grinding speeds. Surface morphologies are evaluated based on fractal dimension FD and surface roughness Ra. The results show that the correlations between FD and Ra indicate the ground surface formation mechanisms of TMCs. It is found that submicron TiC generated in SLM cooperating with high grinding speed achieves a good surface quality in terms of reduced surface roughness and subsurface damages for TMCs, which could be beneficial to the fabrication of other metal matrix composites.