Optimization of CDCF Grinding of Turbine Blade

Continuous-Dress Creep-Feed (CDCF) grinding is used to grind turbine blades made of nickel-based alloys. High specific energy and high forces are the main characteristics of the CDCF process. Due to the complex wheel-workpiece interaction, choosing the right process parameters to increase productivity and reduce cost is often done based on past experience or with a trial-and-error approach. This paper presents a grinding model based approach. The models were found to predict the grinding process behavior well. New process parameters were proposed to reduce cycle time and wheel consumption while maintaining the power and force within the acceptable limits.