TABLE OF CONTENTS Grinding processes are often selected for final finishing of components because of their ability to satisfy stringent requirements of surface roughness and tolerance. Surface roughness and tolerance are closely interrelated, as it is generally necessary to specify a smoother finish in order to maintain a finer tolerance in production. For many practical design applications, it is the tolerance requirement which imposes a limit on the maximum allowable roughness, although the proper operation of many devices also necessitates smooth surfaces.
The reliability of mechanical components, especially for high strength applications, is often critically dependent upon the quality of the surface produced by machining. Surface quality may be considered to consist of two aspects: surface integrity and surface topography [1]. Surface integrity is associated with mechanical and metallurgical alterations to the surface layer induced by machining. For grinding, the most important aspects of surface integrity are associated with thermal damage caused by excessive grinding temperatures, as we saw in Chapter 6. Surface topography refers to the geometry of machined surfaces, which is usually characterized by surface roughness, although there are other parameters which may also be of interest.
The present chapter is mainly concerned with surface roughness in grinding. We begin by observing the distinctive morphological features of ground surfaces. Quantitative characterization of surface topography is then briefly reviewed, and the possible basis for a direct interrelationship between roughness and tolerance is assessed. Various models are then considered for describing the generation of the 'ideal' ground surface topography to theoretically...
