Basic Study of Nano-Grinding

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to obtain a basic knowledge required to analyze the material removal mechanism in the nano-grinding. In this report, in order to make clear the nanoscale removal processes in constant-force grinding, fundamental experiments to generate a nanoscale grinding groove on an ultra-precise polished fused quartz surface are conducted under a constant normal force using the atomic force microscope combined with two-axis capacitive force/displacement transducer. When increasing the normal force, three different regions in the normal force in which the different mechanism of groove formation take places are found. They are an elastic deformation region without remaining deformation, a plastic deformation region in which the groove is dominantly formed by plastic flow and a removal process region in which the groove is dominantly formed by removal process. The minimum normal force fnR at which the removal process begins is about 33.7 μN and in this case the groove with a depth of about 4.3 nm is formed. The critical normal force fnR is identified from a characteristic change in a ratio of normal and tangential forces with increasing normal force.