Comparison of Surface Textures Generated in Hard Turning and Grinding Operations

The problem of replacing costly and environmentally detrimental grinding operations by hard turning or milling processes needs further investigations related to the obtainable quality of machined parts. In author's opinion the problem should be extended to the surface texture generated in these contrary operations which is critical for service properties demanded by end-users. Taking these aspects into consideration, an extended study was performed to characterize surface topographies (3D surface roughness parameters) produced. In this case study, the turned and ground surfaces with the same Ra roughness parameter of about 0.3 μm were compared. Moreover, the frequency, furrows, fractal and motifs analyses have aided the final conclusions. The analysis done would assist technologists to select an optimum chain of machining operations.