Experimental Study on Forces and Surface Roughness in Peripheral Grinding of an Aluminum Alloy 05-12-03-0017

Peripheral grinding of the aluminum alloy EN AB-AlSi9Cu3(Fe) using a vitrified silicon carbide grinding wheel was investigated in this article. The effect of grinding parameters, namely, grinding speed, feed and depth of cut, and grinding condition, up-grinding or down-grinding, on resulting forces, grinding energy, and surface roughness were analyzed. A 2² × 3² full factorial design of experiments was performed. The ground surface morphology showed evidence of rubbing and plowing effects, and ductile material removal was the main mechanism. Within the analyzed process window, the minimum value of surface roughness was 0.28 μm. The experimental evaluation highlighted that forces and grinding energy are directly dependent on chip thickness, and this relationship was further explored as a function of depth of cut and feed per grain. Conversely, an inverse dependence was observed in the case of surface roughness. Empirical relationships for a reliable prediction of the grinding force and the specific grinding energy were defined. On the contrary, the surface roughness could not be fully modelled by the variation of the kinematic factors considered, and only a rough estimation was obtained. The results may be used for a more conscious setup of the grinding process on aluminum alloys, especially in the automotive field, where these are key materials.