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.