Monitoring grinding wheel wear is crucial for optimising dressing intervals and workpiece surface integrity. Grindability tests were conducted on a through-hardened, micro-alloyed C38 steel, using a multi-sensor approach to analyse forces and acoustic emission (AE) under varying grinding aggressiveness and wheel micro-topographies. The acquired data enabled the identification of features sensitive to wheel wear progression. For all investigated conditions, a worn wheel (duller micro-topography) led to higher forces and instantaneous energies of the AE Intrinsic Mode Functions. The frequency spectra obtained by Fast Fourier and Hilbert-Huang transforms also revealed distinct differences as wheel wear progressed.
Science Journal 