Investigation of the ultrasonic effect on surface topography of WC-Co in grinding operation with different cutting variants

Abstract

Tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co) is a composite material consisting of WC as the main phase along with Co as a soft binder metal. It is difficult to process due to its extreme wear resistance and high hardness. Hence, many non-conventional production methods, such as electrical discharge machining and ultrasonic-assisted machining operation, have been found to achieve this. The article is focused on processing WC-Co machining with ultrasonic-assisted grinding (UAG) operation. In this study, WC-25Co material was grinded in different cutting tool angles with Ultrasonic 20 (DMG Mori) machine. Each of cutting tool angle during grinding corresponds distinct operations. Hence, the effect of the ultrasonic factor and cutting direction during grinding on the surface integrity of workpiece was investigated. The ultrasonic oscillation was introduced as on/off in each condition while the remaining parameters were kept constant. After processing, the changes in the specimen surfaces were examined via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and surface roughness values. As a result, the surface properties of specimens processed with and without ultrasonic effect were compared.

Keywords

• ultrasonic-assisted grinding
• tungsten carbide-cobalt
• surface integrity

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