Effects of minimizing hydrodynamic pressure in ultra-precision mirror grinding

This paper describes an investigation about the fluid delivery method that minimizes the generation of hydrodynamic pressure and that improves grinding accuracy. Traditionally, grinding fluid is delivered for the purpose of cooling, chip flushing and lubrication. Hence, numbers of conventional investigations are focused on the delivery method to maximize fluid flux into the contact arc between grinding wheel and workpiece. It is already known that hydrodynamic pressure generates due to this fluid flux, and that it affects overall grinding resistance and machining accuracy. Especially in the ultra-precision mirror grinding process that requires extremely small amount of cut per each pass, its influence on the machining accuracy becomes more significant. Therefore, in this paper, a new delivery method of grinding fluid is proposed on the point of minimizing hydrodynamic pressure effect. Experimental data indicate that the proposed method is effective not only to minimize the hydrodynamic pressure but also to improve machining accuracy. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.