Control of Machining Profiles Based on Material Removal Capabilities in Cylindrical Blasting

Abstract

Fluid dynamic bearings, which have an advantage in high-accuracy revolutions, are employed for spindle motors of hard disk drive, cooling fans for central processing unit, spindles of machine tool, etc. Micro herring-bone grooves are manufactured on cylindrical surface of the shafts in the bearing units, and they generate dynamic pressure during spins. Although the depth of the herring-bone grooves is generally constant, the shafts of which groove depth decreases from the ends of the groove array to its center improve the performance of bearing. The micro grooves are mainly manufactured by chemical etching, electrochemical machining, cutting and form rolling. However, the chemical etching and the electrochemical machining are difficult to control 3D machining profiles with high accuracy. The cutting and the form rolling have problems in tool lives and manufacturing costs. On the other hand, blasting is expected as one of micro fabrication methods. Therefore, we focused on blasting, and have investigated its material removal capabilities by fundamental tests. The purpose of this study is to control machining profiles in cylindrical blasting. The machining profiles of cylindrical workpieces in blasting were simulated based on the material removal capabilities obtained by the fundamental blasting tests. Then, the simulated profiles agreed well with the experimental ones by blasting under the same experimental condition.