Recent progress on surface integrity of grinding difficult-to-cut metal materials

Nickel-based superalloys, titanium alloys, stainless steel and other metal materials are widely used in high-end equipment manufacturing, especially in the field of national defense and military industry. Grinding process is an important method to machine these difficult-to-cut metal materials. However, the thermomechanical coupling effect in grinding process has a significant effect on surface integrity, while the surface integrity contributes to the service performance of parts. In this paper, the formation mechanism, contributing factors, prediction and control of the core elements (such as surface roughness, residual stress, micro-hardness and microstructure, etc.) of surface integrity were comprehensively summarized. The development trend of surface integrity control technology is also prospected.