Theoretical investigation of anisotropic material removal mechanism in robotic belt grinding single crystal superalloy process

Being the final procedure in the blade shape processing, the material removal depth of abrasive belt grinding ultimately affects the blades’ final shape precision and their servicing performance. The advanced blade material, single crystal superalloy, exhibits anisotropic mechanical characteristics, which adds complexity in blade material removal mechanism. In this work, based on crystallographic elastoplastic theory and abrasive belt’s surface geometry, a microscopic penetration depth-contact force function is derived considering the anisotropic nature of the material through the multi-scale analysis of the contact between flexible wheel and the workpiece, Furthermore, combining with the dynamic contact zone profile, a flexible removal depth model of anisotropic materials is established. The proposed model was evaluated by the robotic belt grinding experiments. Experimental results demonstrate the model’s excellent predictive capabilities. The results illustrate the significant effect of crystallographic anisotropy on MRD, and verified the tangential force and MRD predicting accuracies of the proposed model.