Achieving Precision Grinding Quality by Hard Turning

In the past decade, the technology of finish machining hardened steels with geometrically defined cutting edges has been developed. Due to its high potential to increase productivity as well as competitiveness, research and development has focused on enlarging the use of hard turning for components with very high requirements on surface quality (R2 < 1 mu m), form and shape tolerances (IT3 - IT5). In this paper, a detailed comparison on achievable workpiece quality for finish grinding with Al2O3- and CBN-wheels and finish hard turning is presented. It will be shown that finish hard turning is today capable of achieving and maintaining workpiece qualities within the same high range like finish grinding processes.