Experimental study of tangential-feed centerless grinding process performed on surface grinder

In our previous study, a new centerless grinding method using surface grinder was proposed. In this method, a compact unit consisting mainly of an ultrasonic elliptic-vibration shoe, a blade, and their respective holders is installed on the worktable of a multipurpose surface grinder to conduct tangential-feed centerless grinding operations. For the complete establishment of this new method, firstly in this paper workpiece rotational speed control tests were carried out to make sure that the workpiece rotational speed is exactly controlled by the elliptic vibration of shoe to achieve high-precision centerless grinding. Then, the effects of the process parameters such as the worktable feed rate, the stock removal and the workpiece rotational speed on the workpiece roundness were clarified experimentally. The obtained results showed that (1) The workpiece rotational speed can be controlled exactly by the shoe ultrasonic vibration, (2) The roundness is improved with the increases in the voltage applied and the stock removal, but the decrease in the worktable feed rate; The best roundness obtained was 0.84μm.