Workpiece roundness profile in the frequency domain: an application in cylindrical plunge grinding

In grinding, most control strategies are based on the spindle power measurement, but recently, acoustic emission has been widely used for wheel wear and gap elimination. This paper explores a potential use of acoustic emission (AE) to detect workpiece lobes. This was achieved by sectioning and analysing the AE signal in the frequency domain. For the first time, the profile of the ground workpiece was predicted mathematically using key frequencies extracted from the AE signals. The results were validated against actual workpiece profile measurements. The relative shift of the wave formed on the surface of the part was expressed using the wheel-workpiece frequency ratio. A comparative study showed that the workpiece roundness profile could be monitored in the frequency domain using the AE signal during grinding.