Influences of Pre-Sintered Ceramic Compacts Processing Parameters on Tool Wear

Abstract

As the requirements of MEMS continuously increase, the micro ceramic structures are widely used due to their favorable material properties such as high strength, hardness and resistance to high temperature, wear and erosion. However, the sintered ceramic compact is hard to be machined as its high strength. On the other hand, the low strength of green ceramic body makes it difficult to guarantee the machining accuracy. In this paper, ceramic compacts are pre-sintered below the sintering temperature. Pre-sintered ceramic compacts have suitable strength and are easy to be machined. Simple ceramic micro structures are easily generated with micro tools fabricated on line by wire electrical discharge grinding method (WEDG). Extensive experiments are carried out to investigate the influence of the strength of pre-sintered ceramic compact on the tool wear. It was found that the best machining results are achieved under the conditions of using the tool with a semi-circle cross section, the tool rotation speed of 1500 rpm and the pre-sintered ceramic compact formed under the pressure of 150MPa within the range of experimental conditions in this study.