Effects of grain size and protrusion height on the surface integrity generation in the nanogrinding of 6H-SiC

The size and protrusion height of abrasive grains of a grinding wheel are not uniform, which can greatly influence the surface integrity generation of a ground component. The purpose of this paper is to explore such effects on the deformation and material removal mechanisms of 6H-SiC subjected to nanogrinding with the aid of molecular dynamics simulations. It was found that a nanogrinding process can fall into one or more of the following regimes with respect to material removal, i.e., no-wear, adhering, ploughing and cutting regimes, depending on both the depth of grain cut and size of abrasive grains. The plastic deformation in 6H-SiC starts with surface amorphization under the grinding stresses, followed by the activation of partial and perfect dislocations in the shuffle set of the material's basal plane.

Automated summary

This paper investigates the effects of non-uniform abrasive grains on the deformation and material removal mechanisms of 6H-SiC during nanogrinding using molecular dynamics simulations. The study finds that different sizes of abrasive grains and cutting depths can result in different grinding mechanisms, which in turn affect the plastic deformation of the material.