Mechanism of material removal on stainless steel through diamond abrasion: a molecular dynamics simulation study

A rough surface of any engineering material exhibits high surface energy which results in higher potential energy or cohesive energy of the material, and it affects both optical as well as chemical properties. In this paper, stainless steel 304 (or SS304) is selected for nano-finishing through diamond abrasive using MD simulations. It is found that the diamond abrasive creates new bonds with Cr and Fe atoms by rise in local temperature and stresses. Moreover, Ni atom diffuses inside the abrasive as it does not chemically bond with C atom. The abrasion on steel due to diamond also leads to phase transformation on both abrasive as well as the workpiece. Subsequently, the transformed phase is removed from the workpiece due to the newly formed chemical bonds, however, in the process, the abrasive particle deteriorates by phase transformation and materials loading. Thus, the present study is useful in optimising nano-finishing or nano-cutting process on stainless steel.