Novel Insights into Surface Integrity in Metal Machining

A special issue of Metals (ISSN 2075-4701). This special issue belongs to the section "Structural Integrity of Metals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 618

Editor


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Guest Editor
College of Mechanical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, China
Interests: surface integrity in machining; high-performance cutting tools; metal cutting and grinding; hard and brittle materials machining; advanced manufacturing processes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue on “Novel Insights into Surface Integrity in Metal Machining”. Surface integrity describes the condition of the surface and subsurface layer generated by machining, including topography, microstructure and residual stresses. It strongly affects fatigue life, wear, corrosion and dimensional accuracy of machined components such as cutting tools, dies, aero-engine and powertrain parts, especially for modern alloys and metal matrix composites produced by high-energy-field processes such as spark plasma sintering and laser cladding.

This Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances on how machining parameters, tool conditions and workpiece materials influence surface and subsurface states, and how surface integrity can be evaluated and controlled to improve the service performance and reliability of engineering components and tools.

For this Special Issue, original research articles and review papers are welcome. Suggested themes include machining of metals and metal matrix composites; cutting and grinding of tools and parts made by spark plasma sintering and other high-energy-field consolidation routes; experimental and numerical methods for surface integrity characterization and modelling; and process strategies for enhancing fatigue, wear and corrosion behaviour of machined components. We look forward to receiving your valuable ontributions.

Prof. Dr. Guoxing Liang
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • surface integrity
  • metal machining
  • cutting and grinding processes
  • residual stresses
  • subsurface damage
  • metal matrix composites
  • spark plasma sintering
  • high-energy-field processing
  • fatigue performance
  • wear and corrosion resistance

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 4500 KB  
Article
Surface Integrity and Subsurface Modification Depths During Grinding Under Varying Process Conditions
by Gerrit Kuhlmann, Lars Langenhorst, Tobias Hüsemann, Carsten Heinzel and Bernhard Karpuschewski
Metals 2026, 16(7), 770; https://doi.org/10.3390/met16070770 - 10 Jul 2026
Viewed by 332
Abstract
This study investigates the influence of the spatial distribution of specific grinding power within the contact zone on subsurface layer modification and the resulting modification depth effects. In surface grinding experiments on AISI 4140, the width of cut and depth of cut were [...] Read more.
This study investigates the influence of the spatial distribution of specific grinding power within the contact zone on subsurface layer modification and the resulting modification depth effects. In surface grinding experiments on AISI 4140, the width of cut and depth of cut were deliberately modified to generate distinct thermal loads within the grinding contact zone, with simultaneous measurement of tangential and normal grinding forces to quantify the mechanical loading conditions. The distribution of specific grinding power was analyzed with respect to its localization along the contact length and across the width of cut. The results indicate a predominantly uniform distribution of grinding power density within the contact zone under the investigated process conditions. Subsurface integrity was characterized in terms of tempering effects in metallographic cross-sections, hardness and residual stress depth profiles. These findings were correlated with Barkhausen noise measurements to establish a non-destructive assessment methodology for thermally induced modifications. Also, roughness measurements were evaluated. The experimental results reveal a consistent relationship between specific grinding power input and subsurface modification depth. Furthermore, a uniform grinding burn threshold was identified, indicating a critical condition for thermally induced surface damage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Insights into Surface Integrity in Metal Machining)
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