An Experimental Investigation of Superabrasive Grinding of Alumina Ceramics Using Molybdenum Disulphide as Solid Lubricant

Super abrasive grinding is a development in the precision grinding technology for producing high surface finish on the surfaces. Cooling and lubrication are especially important to ensure workpiece quality because of high friction and intense heat generation involved in the process. Conventionally, liquid coolants in flood form are employed in grinding. The large contact area between the wheel and workpiece causes as tiff boundary layer around the periphery, which restricts the flow of fresh cutting fluids in the grinding zone. Hence, the usage of fluid coolant is in effective. Minimization and possibly the elimination of fluid coolants can be done by substituting their functions through the use of solid lubricants. In this work, the possibility of using Molybdenum-di-Sulphide as a lubricating medium to reduce the heat generated at the grinding zone is investigated by the use of an experimental setup in the surface grinding machine. The study of effect of wheel parameters and grinding parameters on surface roughness, surface damage, specific energy and grinding forces are analyzed and the results are compared with the results obtained in the dry grinding.