Laser-assisted grinding of silicon nitride ceramics: Micro-groove preparation and removal mechanism

Abstract

Efficient grinding of Silicon Nitride ceramics has always been impeded by the inevitable fracture cracks and lower removal rate. This paper is devoted to investigate the efficient grinding mechanism of ceramics by Laser Assisted Grinding(LAG) method, which focuses on the micro-groove preparation and its related quality analysis. Three different types of grooves, checkerboard, annular and arc, are designed for ceramics grinding experiments, accompanied with comprehensive analysis of the grinding forces, surface roughness and SEM topography. The results show that the LAG process could substantially improve the grinding surface quality and reduce the grinding force compared with the traditional grinding method. From the surface groove geometry and scratching experiments, the annular groove has proved to have a better surface integrity under a lower grinding force. Combined with the scratching analysis, it is suggested to prepare curved surface groove at a lower distance gap will more directly help to improve the grinding efficiency and surface integrity.