Prediction of un-uniform grinding wheel wear based on instantaneous engagement of multi-axis grinding

Grinding is a precision machining method widely used in the precision manufacturing. Wears of the grinding wheel are common during the grinding process that would lead to the decrease of manufacturing precision. To improve grinding precision, a grinding wheel wear prediction method for multi-axis grinding is presented in this paper. Due to the complex shape of grinding wheel and the surface-to-grind, they are represented on a group of virtual planes. In terms of the kinematics of five-axis machine tool, the simplified engagements between the grinding wheel and the workpiece are calculated on these planes. By composing these scattered engagements, the spatial instantaneous engagements are obtained. Next, the material volume removed by the infinitesimal on the profile of the grinding wheel is calculated accurately. Inversely, the abrasion loss of each infinitesimal can be obtained based on the grinding ratio. The abrasion loss distribution is determined by composing all the infinitesimals on the wheel’s profile. Finally, a free-form surface is ground by a cylindrical wheel to verify the proposed method. It shows that the wear prediction of the grinding wheel can provide a basis for predicting the tool’s time of failure.