Investigation on cooling behavior of axially rotating heat pipe in profile grinding of turbine blade slots

During profile grinding of fir-tree blade slots, a key issue is usually the excessive heat caused by the complex contact zone. Most studies have focused on the cooling efficiency of the coolant; however only few have investigated the heat transfer potency of the grinding wheel matrix. In this study, a new cooling method that incorporates an axially rotating heat pipe (RHP) in the profile grinding wheel has been proposed. The cooling behavior of the new method was analyzed by both simulation and experimental grinding of titanium alloys. The temperature distributions along the RHP and the workpiece surface were monitored using embedded thermocouples. The effects of input heat flux, filling ratio and rotational speed on heat transfer performance were discussed. Comparative profile grinding experiments among RHP cooling, coolant cooling and no cooling demonstrated a great cooling advantage of RHP cooling with the lowest grinding temperature and better workpiece quality. Considering the research gaps of the previous studies, this work is not only deepens the understanding of the cooling behavior in the RHP during profile grinding of turbine blade slots, but also is helpful to provide guidance on the green machining of industrial products with complex profiles.