Development of a novel supersonic grinding machine tool

Ultra-high speed grinding (UHSG) is a significant and promising machining technology for grinding hard-to-cut materials. To study the aerodynamics of the grinding wheel body when the airflow field has subsonic, transonic, and supersonic speed characteristics and to clarify the corresponding influence on the grinding mechanism, this study is carried out to develop a supersonic grinding machine tool capable of high-speed operations at wheel speeds up to 450 m/s while also maintaining high grinding capability. In accordance with main design objectives, a high-performance grinding motorized spindle with a maximum rotational speed of 36,000 r/min and a maximum power of 28 kW is developed. A linear motor feed-driven system is also exploited to satisfy the requirement of maximum reciprocating speed up to 2 m/s. In particular, carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) grinding wheel with ceramic-bond cubic boron nitride (CBN) abrasives is manufactured for the UHSG process. Furthermore, some analyses on the developed whole grinding machine tool are also conducted to verify and further improve the performance. Finally, following specific design and performance analysis, a prototype of supersonic grinding machine tool is finally developed.