Innovative approaches to eco-friendly precision grinding of VP50 steel

Climate actions have been gaining prominence in discussions about the industrial future due to the need to reduce the amounts of residual pollutants in manufacturing processes. Although the grinding process is widely applied in the industry for its finishing capabilities and dimensional and geometric precision, it is significantly polluting and detrimental to workers’ health. This is attributed to the quantity of mineral oil used in conventional flood lubrication-cooling systems. With these demands in mind, this work proposes alternative methods by comparing the performance of the alumina grinding wheel with the conventional method of lubrication-cooling using MQL, with and without the WCJ auxiliary system, and distinguishing the direction angles of the air jet in the cylindrical grinding process. The workpieces are made of VP50 steel, and the analyzed output parameters include surface roughness (Ra), with confocal microscopy used on the workpiece surface, roundness error, diametrical wheel wear, G-ratio, grinding power, tangential cutting force, and cost and pollution analysis.