Surface Quality, Efficiency and Process Optimization of Grinding Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Silicon Carbide Composite

Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs) are designed to overcome the main drawbacks of monolithic ceramics, especially their brittleness, in high-performance and safety-critical applications. Owing to the inherent properties of CMCs, especially heterogeneous structure, anisotropic thermal and mechanical behavior, and the hard nature of fibers or matrix, the machining process becomes extremely challenging as the generated surface suffers from undesirable quality. Taking the high hardness of ceramic matrix into account, grinding with diamond abrasives is the only efficient way for machining of CMC materials. The aim of this paper was to study the influence of grinding parameters (cutting speed, feed speed, and depth of cut) and different cooling-lubrication conditions (i.e. dry, fluid, and minimum quantity lubrication) on surface roughness, process efficiency, and tool wear. The results indicated that MQL leads to the best results in terms of surface quality and process performance. Furthermore, increasing of cutting speed and feed speed decreased and increased surface roughness, respectively, while depth of cut had an insignificant effect on the roughness value. Regarding the experimental results, four machining strategies considering quality, productivity, and efficiency criteria were developed. Eventually, the material removal mechanism was evaluated using SEM photos, indicating that brittle fracture is the dominant removal behavior of CMC materials.