Precision grinding of ceramics and ceramic-matrix composites surfaces with controllable microarray structures

Abstract

The precision micro-tip truing and micro-grinding technology is proposed to process controllable microarray structures on the surfaces of ceramics and ceramic-matrix composites in this paper. It involves the mechanical truing of a metal-bonded diamond grinding wheel along V-shaped cross interpolation trajectories for creating sharp cutting edges. The trued V-tip grinding wheel was utilized to machine regular microarray structures on the surfaces of single crystal silicon carbide (SiC), silicon carbide reinforced aluminum (Al/SiCp), reaction-bonded silicon carbide (RB-SiC) and glass ceramic. The morphology of the trued grinding wheel, as well as the V-tip profile, arc radius, tip angle, form accuracy, and morphology of the ground microarray structures were analyzed. The results indicate that ground RB-SiC surface exhibits the highest processing quality, while glass ceramic has the lowest. Additionally, the errors of the bottom angle of V-grooves on all four ceramic materials are less than 1°, and form accuracy PV value is controlled within 18 µm. Overall, it is a highly efficient and accurate method for processing microarray structures on ceramics and ceramic-matrix composites.