Abstract
Advanced ceramic balls are used extensively in hybrid precision ball bearings and show advantages in high speed, high temperature, high load and hostile environment. Finishing these balls with high quality, good efficiency and low cost is critical to their widespread application. A brief review of the methods for finishing ceramic balls is presented. The design of a novel eccentric lapping machine for finishing advanced ceramic balls is described. The kinematics of eccentric lapping is analysed and discussed, the symbolic expressions for the ball spin angular speed, ωc, ball spin angle, β, and ball circulation angular speed, ωc, are derived and numerical solutions are plotted. Two kinds of hot isostatically pressed (HIPed) silicon nitride ball blanks (13.25–13.50mm in diameter) were lapped and polished to 12.700 mm using this machine. A maximum material removal rate of 68 μm/h was achieved at the lapping step, which is much higher than by the traditional concentric lapping method. The polished ball surface roughness, Ra, value is 0.003 μm, and the ball roundness is 0.08–0.09 μm, which is above grade 5 and close to grade 3 of the precision bearing ball specification. This machine can be used as a prototype to develop a larger-scale machine for production.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
