Novel strategies for enhancing coolant flow in grinding

• Grant number: 15/20263-1
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• Start date: April 04, 2016
• End date: June 03, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Production Engineering - Product Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Reginaldo Teixeira Coelho
• Grantee: Reginaldo Teixeira Coelho
• Visiting researcher: Philip Koshy
• Visiting researcher institution: McMaster University , Canada
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: São Carlos

Abstract

Productivity in grinding operations is often limited by heat-induced metallurgical alterations to the workpiece material, due to inadequate cooling of the wheel-work interface. Effective transport of the cooling fluid into the grinding zone is therefore of utmost importance. This document provides a brief review of the state-of-the-art of coolant application in grinding, with a view to placing the proposed research in context. Following this, two novel approaches are proposed to be developed for enhancing the coherence of the fluid jet ensuing from a nozzle, for improved cooling in grinding operations. The first approach will investigate conditioning of the grinding fluid before it enters the nozzle; the second approach will examine the influence of mixing polymer additives into the grinding fluid. The effect of these approaches will be quantified experimentally in terms of enhancements in grinding productivity. (AU)