A study on high-shear and low-pressure grinding with body-armour-like abrasive tool (BAAT) for Inconel 718 superalloys

A novel body-armour-like abrasive tool (BAAT) was developed for the high-shear and low-pressure grinding of super alloys with an aim to reduce the ratio of normal force to tangential force. A composite process model was developed based on finite element method (FEM) method whereby. Shear thickening fluid (STF) inside the BAAT was set as variable viscosity through TABULAR approach. An experimental platform was established to explore the effects of high-shear and low-pressure grinding process on Inconel 718 specimens. The surface roughness and surface morphology of Inconel 718 specimens were examined. The experimental results were validated against the developed process model outcomes to demonstrate the efficacy. It was determined that the force ratio increased from 0.12 to 0.48 with the computational model while the force ratio experimentally enhanced from 0.298 to 0.577. The results from the computational model was consistent with the experimental outcomes which signifies the effectiveness of developed process model. Even from experimental results, it was evaluated that the surface roughness (Ra) reduced from 0.744 μm to 0.201 μm after removal of horizontal scratches and elimination of vertical processing texture. Inconel 718 specimens exhibited fine surface quality which represented that BAAT acquired desirable characteristics of processing under high-shear and low-pressure environment with excellent grinding performance.