Determining optimal process parameters to increase the eco-efficiency of grinding processes

Grinding processes aim to produce workpieces with high technological characteristics, such as: fine surface finish, great geometrical accuracy and specific material properties, and specific economic objectives. Despite these technological and economic objectives, it is more and more important to consider the environmental impact of grinding processes. Therefore, the process eco-efficiency needs to be addressed in relation to the aforementioned three objectives. This paper presents an approach to identify the process parameters that leads to Pareto-optimal solutions for advancing the eco-efficiency of grinding operations. An internal cylindrical grinding process is selected to demonstrate this approach. Empirical models are developed to characterise the grinding processes. Both single-objective and multi-objective optimisations are carried out, where geometric programming and a weighted max-min model are used respectively. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses are presented to reveal the trends of each process parameter in relation to the preference of technological, economic and environmental objectives.