Genesis of workpiece roughness generated in surface grinding and polishingof metals

Assuming the grinding wheel surface to be fractal in nature, the maximum en velope profile of the wheel and contact deflections are estimated over a ra nge of length scales. This gives an estimate of the 'no wear' roughness of a surface ground metal. Four test materials, aluminum, copper, titanium, an d steel are surface ground and their surface power spectra were estimated. The departure of this power spectra from the 'no wear' estimates is studied in terms of the traction-induced wear damage of the surfaces. The surface power spectra in grinding are influenced by hardness and the power is enhan ced by wear damage. No such correlation with hardness was found for the pol ished surface, the roughness of which is insensitive to mechanical properti es and appears to be influenced by microstructure and physical properties o f the material. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.