A Heat Transfer Model Based on Finite Difference Method for Grinding

A heat transfer model for grinding has been developed based on the finite difference method (FDM). The proposed model can solve transient heat transfer problems in grinding, and has the flexibility to deal with different boundary conditions. The model is first validated by comparing it with the traditional heat transfer model for grinding which assumes the semiinfinite workpiece size and adiabatic boundary conditions. Then it was used to investigate the effects of workpiece size, feed rate, and cooling boundary conditions. Simulation results show that when the workpiece is short or the feed rate is low, transient heat transfer becomes more dominant during grinding. Results also show that cooling in the grinding contact zone has much more significant impact on the reduction of workpiece temperature than that in the leading edge or trailing edge. The model is further applied to investigate the convection heat transfer at the workpiece surface in wet and minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) grinding. Based on the assumption of linearly varying convection heat transfer coefficient in the grinding contact zone, FDM model is able to calculate convection coefficient from the experimentally measured grinding temperature profile. The average convection heat transfer coefficient in the grinding contact zone was estimated as 4.2 × 10⁵ W/m²-K for wet grinding and 2.5 × 10⁴ W/m²-K for MQL grinding using vitrified bond CBN wheels.