Meso-scale geometric modeling of cutting edges on vitrified bonded aluminum oxide grinding wheels for the multi-scale simulation of internal plunge grinding processes

Vitrified bonded aluminum oxide grinding wheels are widespread in use for many applications in grinding, such as internal plunge grinding. However, there are challenges when it comes to the measurement, analysis and (geometric) modeling of their topography, which is crucial to understand and model the influence of the topography on the process behavior. Methodological advances allow for the detailed digitization of the topography using optical profilometry despite the challenging optical properties of these grinding wheels. Based on the digitized grinding wheel topography, methods are presented to process the measurement data in order to create a representative set of geometric cutting edge models. This set is subsequently used to generate a full-sized virtual grinding wheel with realistic topography. Using established methods in an efficient implementation that scales to many CPU-cores, the interaction between the workpiece model and each individual cutting edge can be calculated at meso-scale. Therefore, it is possible to analyze for example the chip thickness or the material removal rate per cutting edge. Furthermore, additional models can be applied, based on the analysis of the engagement situation, which is demonstrated using a cutting force model.