STUDY ON THE FRICTION AND WEAR PROPERTIES AND SURFACE INTEGRITY OF GCr15 BEARING STEEL UNDER DIFFERENT GRINDING METHODS.

In the field of precision machining, there are two widely used grinding methods for the same type of abrasive, namely, fixed abrasive grinding, and free abrasive grinding. In this paper, we utilized a self-developed rolling-sliding ratio controllable friction and wear testing machine to investigate the friction and wear properties of GCr15 bearing steel ground by fixed/free abrasive grinding under rolling and sliding motion, with varying abrasive particle sizes. The surface morphology and roughness of the ground bearing steel were observed and measured using a laser confocal microscope and white light interferometer. Results showed that under rolling and sliding conditions, the coefficient of friction for fixed abrasive grinding was higher than for free abrasive grinding. Under sliding conditions, the grinding efficiency of the fixed abrasive wheel is higher. However, in the case of wheel blockage, the grinding efficiency would significantly decrease. Conversely, the grinding efficiency of free abrasive grinding was observed to be stable throughout the grinding process. Under the same conditions of abrasive particle size in the sliding state, free abrasive grinding showed better surface integrity of bearing steel compared to fixed abrasive grinding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]