Experimental and Numerical Analysis of the Surface Integrity resulting from Outer-Diameter Grind-Hardening

Besides conventional heat treatment operations, an innovative approach for surface hardening is the grind-hardening process. During this process the dissipated heat from grinding is used for a martensitic phase transformation in the subsurface region of machined components. Additionally, compressive residual stresses are induced in the grindhardened surface layer. However, for the implementation of grind-hardening into industrial production extensive experimental tests are required to achieve iterative results of hardening depth. This paper focuses on the identification of parameter sets for a sufficient grind-hardening in outer-diameter grinding. On the one hand, grinding tests were conducted supported by metallographic investigations; on the other hand, a finite-element-based model was used to predict the surface integrity resulting from grind-hardening.