Thermal Aspects of Environmentally Friendly-MQL Grinding Process

This study attempts to quantify the amount of heat that goes into the workpiece during grinding processes. A new two dimensional transient heat conduction finite element model (FEM) has been made for both the conventional and environmentally friendly-MQL grinding processes. The boundary conditions for this problem were established based on the results of the heat transfer studies on semi-infinite bodies with a heat source moving on its surface. The model also takes into account the convective cooling of the grinding fluid/MQL. Hence this model can be used to evaluate the cooling effectiveness of various coolant-lubricant conditions based upon their convective heat transfer coefficient and bulk temperature. The finite element results can be used to evaluate the energy partition, which is defined as the fraction of total grinding energy that goes as heat into the workpiece. These results when matched with the experimental data give the energy partition. Results show that the finite element results match well with the experimental data.