Nanosecond Laser Ablation Assisted Precision Grinding of WC/Co Cemented Tungsten Carbide

Due to the high hardness and uneven microstructure of the WC/Co cemented tungsten carbides, the grinding tool experiences severely worn and the efficiency is unsatisfactory. To improve its machinability, this paper proposed the nanosecond laser ablation assisted grinding of WC/Co cemented tungsten carbides, where the influence of laser processing parameters on the ablated surface characteristics and the subsurface damage was firstly identified. The laser ablation assisted grinding of WC/Co was then undertaken to coordinate the machining quality and efficiency, where controllable damage was induced by laser ablation and the damaged layer was removed by the following grinding process. The effects of grinding parameters and micro-structuring strategy on the laser ablation assisted grinding force and surface integrity were investigated. The results showed that an obvious decrease of grinding force can be achieved, where the max reduction rate of the normal force and tangential force reaches 48% - 54% and 50%-64%. It can thereby verify the feasibility of laser ablation assisted grinding of WC/Co, which can inspire further researches on the high-efficiency and high-quality machining of hard materials.