On the temperature field in the creep feed grinding of turbine blade root: Simulation and experiments

Although there have been many theoretical, numerical and experimental studies focusing on grinding temperature, very few of them investigated the temperature domain when performing profile grinding of free-form surfaces, where excessive heat can be considered as the key issue due to the long and complex contact zone. In this study, the finite element (FE) based thermal model of the Creep Feed Grinding (CFG) process of Inconel 718 turbine blade root was established in terms of energy partition, material properties, geometry, and thermal boundary. The validation experiments aided with the imbedded thermocouples showed the reasonable match with the experimental results where the average difference was of about 20% proved the simulation feasibility and accuracy. The effects of the blade root profiling and root geometry on the grinding temperature were discussed based on the validated FE model. Considering the research gaps mentioned above, this work is not only expected to be meaningful to deepen the understandings of the temperature field distribution in the CFG of turbine blade root, but also helpful to provide industry guidance to optimize the process physics in precision machining of high-valued parts with complex profiles.