Mechanical removal of SiC by multi-abrasive particles in fixed abrasive polishing using molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract

Molecular dynamics (MD) as a powerful simulation tool revealed the mechanistic removal behaviors of SiC substrates using a fixed abrasive polishing (FAP) with randomly distributed multi-abrasive particles in a single cycle scratching at nano-scales. This study presents features of surface morphology, subsurface damage and temperature distribution of SiC substrates in nano-abrading. It is demonstrated that the exposed height and abrasive distribution of multi abrasives in a single pad asperity (SPA) dominates the removal behaviors of SiC substrates. MD simulation reveals that the random distribution of diamond abrasives in FAP pad would worsen the processing quality. Our investigation sheds new insights into the mechanical removal mechanisms of SiC in FAP at an asperity-scale.