Abstract The grinding process is defined as an abrasive cutting action of a tool known as grinding wheel, which is submitted to high rotations, promoting excellent finishing and accuracy in dimensions, respecting the parameters established in each project. During the machining, the cutting edges of the abrasive grains undergo wearing and this increases the contact surface of the tool with the workpiece, increasing the machining temperature and creating possibilities of damaging it. Therefore, it is necessary to use a cutting fluid, responsible for lubricating and cooling the cutting zone, removing the chips from the cutting region between the workpiece and the wheel, and even having an anticorrosive action. However, its composition causes contamination to the environment and to the operator. In face of the increasingly strict environmental laws, it has become necessary to search for new methods of cooling that are at least as effective as conventional one and economically practicable. Thus, the Minimum Quantity of Lubrication was developed as a mist of air and oil applied at high pressure, reducing drastically the use of contaminants. In this work, two oil flows were used for the MQL technique, 30 ml/h and 120 ml/h. The wheel used was a CBN (Boron Cubic Nitride) one, composed of synthetic grains and the workpiece, in a ring format, were produced in AISI 4340 steel quenched and tempered. It was observed from results that MQL can be applied in the industrial processes without losing piece quality.

Abstract Usually, machining employs cooling methods to avoid high temperatures. In most cases, the cutting fluid is applied with high flow and low pressures. This technique consumes a large amount of cutting fluid that causes serious problems in the environment and in the health of the worker. An alternative to the conventional cooling method is the Minimum Quantity of Lubricant. The MQL attempts to minimize the consumption of cutting fluid, which this study is about, whereby the reduction provided by this MQL was 99.99%. This technique consumes only the necessary quantity of cutting fluid to create a thin film of lubricant on the cutting surface grinding wheel. The MQL aerosol is injected with high pressure in the contact zone, efficiently lubricating the grinding process. However, the cooling effect of MQL is not enough to dissipate all heat produced during the grinding process. This study analyzes the improvement in the cooling effect caused by the addition of water in the MQL. The tests were done using different concentrations of cutting fluid in water, e.g. 1:0, 1:1, 1:3, 1:5 (oil:water). The experiment occurred on the external cylindrical plunge grinding with a vitrified cubic boron nitrite (CBN) grinding wheel, serving as the workpiece, the AISI 4340 quenched and tempered steel. The analyzed outputs were: surface roughness, roundness deviation, acoustic emission and vibration.. The results improved with the addition of water in the cutting fluid used in the MQL technique. The comparison with the MQL conditions showed that the best condition was the fluid with more water concentration.

Abstract The coolant delivery technique known as Minimal Quantity Lubrication (MQL) has been employed in machining since the end of the 20th Century and has gained considerable evidence in the last years as a viable alternative to the use of the conventional coolant technique (flood). Due to the low oil flow rate delivered by the MQL technique in grinding operations, that generally varies from 20 to 240 ml / h in relation to near 600,000 ml / h flow rate of the conventional coolant technique, the MQL technique provides a reduced risk for human health and environmental damage associated with the use, maintenance and disposal of cutting fluids. In this context, this study was carried out to evaluate the application viability of the minimum quantity lubrication coolant technique under different flow rates in the plunge cylindrical grinding of ABNT 4340 steel with an aluminum oxide wheel. Three flow rates were tested: 30, 60 and 120 ml/h. Grinding trials with the conventional coolant delivery method were also tested for comparative purposes. The output variables used to assess the efficiency of the MQL technique in this work are: roughness, roundness and hardness of the workpiece. Grinding wheel wear and power consumption were also monitored. The results showed that, despite the higher values of roughness and roundness of the workpiece, as well as the grinding wheel wear, the values of these same parameters obtained after machining with the MQL technique were close to those obtained after machining with the conventional technique. No thermal damages and cracks on the machined surface, or even below the machined surface, were observed after grinding ABNT 4340 steel irrespective of the coolant-lubrication condition investigated. The results showed that the MQL with 120 ml/h can be an alternative coolant technique due to cleaner environment and lower consumption of fluid in grinding under the conditions investigated in this work.

Abstract A numerical thermal model was developed to evaluate the heat flux which is conducted to a rectangular workpiece of steel plate ABNT 1020, thus making it possible to compute the maximum temperature in the grinding surface, taking into account the rectangular distribution of heat flux, the thermal properties of the grinding wheel conventional Al2O3, the piece to be machined and the lubri-refrigerating fluid. The finite volume method was employed for the discretization of the direct thermal problem from the heat diffusion equation associated with the two-dimensional problem of heat conduction in transient regime. The inverse thermal problem was solved by the Golden Section technique. The thermal flux, when compared to the conventional technique of method of application fluid, was reduced by 84.0% in the practices performed with cutting depth of 30µm, at 74.0% in practices with cutting depth of 45µm and 61.2% in the aggressive practices of 60µm, thus demonstrating the applicability of the optimized method for fluid application.

RESUMO A retificação é um processo de alta geração de calor, portanto, com seu uso em larga escala, a pesquisa e desenvolvimento de novas técnicas de lubri-refrigeração se fazem necessários, visando respeitar as leis ambientais, preservar a saúde do operador e reduzir custos de produção. Deve-se, então, buscar soluções que mantenham os mesmos parâmetros de qualidade, acabamento e os mesmos efeitos tecnológicos. Um dos métodos propostos para este fim é o MQL (mínima quantidade de lubrificação), que utiliza uma mistura de ar com baixo fluxo de óleo a elevada pressão. O aço a ser utilizado como corpo de prova foi VP 50, muito usado na indústria em moldes para injeção de termoplásticos. O rebolo utilizado foi o de carbeto de silício verde, com ligante vitrificado. Apresentam boas características térmicas, estabilidade química elevada na retificação ferros fundidos, materiais não ferrosos e não metálicos. A análise dos resultados foi feita através avaliação das variáveis de saída do processo, tais como rugosidade, emissão acústica, circularidade, microscopia óptica (para verificação de dano térmico) e microdureza. Dentre os resultados evidenciados, a técnica MQL demonstrou ser superior ao método convencional apenas nos parâmetros de circularidade e desgaste diametral do rebolo, sendo que não houve alteração microestrutural em ambos os métodos de lubrificação.

ABSTRACT Grinding is a high heat generation process that requires large amount of coolant, therefore, its use in large-scale lead to research and development of new lubri-cooling techniques to attend technical requirements, environmental laws, to preserve the health of operator and, whenever possible, to reduce production costs. Into this context, it is important to find solutions that maintain the same quality standards, finishing and the same technological effects. An alternative that has been used since the end of 20th. century is the MQL (minimum quantity lubrication) technique, which uses a mixture of air with low oil flow with medium pressure. The steel to be used as a specimen was VP50, widely used in industry for injection mold of thermoplastic. The grinding wheel used was green silicon carbide with vitrified binder that possess good thermal properties, high chemical stability and is recommended for grinding of ferrous and nonferrous materials. The output variables employed in this work were the surface roughness, roundness errors and microhardness. The acoustic emission signal and diametrical wear were also monitored. Analyses of the machined surfaces to evaluate the occurrence of thermal damages were also carried out via optical microscope. Results show that machining with the MQL technique outperformed the traditional coolant delivery method in terms of roundness and diametrical wear. No evidence of microstructural changes in the machined surfaces was observed after grinding with both lubri-coolant techniques.

ResumoNo processo de retificação, muito já se avançou com o desenvolvimento de métodos de dressagem de rebolos, de lubrirefrigeração e de outros mais. Todavia, todos esses progressos foram conseguidos apenas no que diz respeito ao corte contínuo, ou seja, o perfil da peça retificada não sofre descontinuidade alguma. Nesse sentido, torna-se necessário o estudo do processo de retificação por corte intermitente (peça com ranhuras – corte descontínuo), pois pouco ou, mesmo, nenhum conhecimento e/ou estudo foi desenvolvido com esse enfoque, visto que não é encontrado material algum na literatura formal, salvo aqueles em que o rebolo é o detentor das ranhuras. Na retificação, o calor gerado na zona de corte é extremamente elevado. Dessa forma, o uso de fluidos de corte é indispensável para que seja possível refrigerar, tanto a peça, quanto o rebolo e propiciar melhorias na operação de corte, sendo o mais comum a utilização de fluido em abundância, tendo em vista que os agentes de arrefecimento e lubrificação são capazes de proporcionar uma retificação mais eficiente. Os ensaios foram realizados com um rebolo convencional de óxido de alúmínio, retificando corpos-de-prova confeccionados com aço ABNT 4340 temperado e revenido com 2, 6 e 12 ranhuras. A operação cilíndrica utilizada foi de mergulho, ou seja, o rebolo avança sobre a peça em movimento de rotação. Esse avanço é realizado com três velocidades distintas. Dos resultados obtidos, pode-se observar que a rugosidade tendeu a aumentar, para CP's com mesmo número de ranhuras, conforme foi aumentada a velocidade de mergulho. Os erros de circularidade, assim como a rugosidade, também tenderam a aumentar com o aumento da velocidade de mergulho, para CP's com mesmo número de ranhuras. O desgaste do rebolo tendeu a aumentar conforme aumentados a velocidade de mergulho e o número de ranhuras. A potência consumida pela retificadora foi inversamente proporcional ao número de ranhuras. A microdureza subsuperficial não provocou alteração significativa. E as micrografias revelaram que a usinagem foi satisfatória, pois não houve danos significativos à superficie usinada.

AbstractThere has been a great advance in the grinding process by the development of dressing, lubri-refrigeration and other methods. Nevertheless, all of these advances were gained only for continuous cutting; in other words, the ground workpiece profile remains unchanged. Hence, it becomes necessary to study grinding process using intermittent cutting (grooved workpiece – discontinuous cutting), as little or no knowledge and studies have been developed for this purpose, since there is nothing found in formal literature, except for grooved grinding wheels. During the grinding process, heat generated in the cutting zone is extremely high. Therefore, plenty of cutting fluids are essential to cool not only the workpiece but also the grinding wheel, improving the grinding process. In this paper, grinding trials were performed using a conventional aluminum oxide grinding wheel, testing samples made of AISI 4340 steel quenched and tempered with 2, 6, and 12 grooves. The cylindrical plunge grinding was performed by rotating the workpiece on the grinding wheel. This plunge movement was made at three different speeds. From the obtained results, it can be observed that roughness tended to increase for testing sample with the same number of grooves, as rotation speed increased. Roundness error also tended to increase as the speed rotation process got higher for testing the sample with the same number of grooves. Grinding wheel wear enhanced as rotation speed and number of grooves increased. Power consumed by the grinding machine was inversely proportional to the number of grooves. Subsuperficial microhardness had no significant change. Micrographs reveal an optimal machining operation as there was no significant damage on the machined surface.