Study on optimization of ultrasonic-vibration-assisted polishing process parameters

Abstract

Rapid developments in the field of optics has generated much demand for high performance optical components. In order to improve the polishing efficiency and obtain a high surface quality, an increasing number of ultrasonic-vibration-assisted processing methods have been employed to polish optical components, and the ultrasonic process parameters that play a critical role in effecting this improvement are identified. In this study, axial ultrasonic vibration assisted polishing method was employed to realize this improvement, an orthogonal experiment method was adopted to research the effects of five key process parameters – the spindle speed, gap size between polishing tool and workpiece, abrasive diameter of polishing liquid, ultrasonic amplitude, and working time–on the material removal rate and surface roughness, respectively, and an effect rule was obtained. As the parameter optimization schemes used differ, the optimization of process parameters becomes complex when the polishing efficiency and surface quality are taken into account at the same time. Hence, the main objective of this study is a process-parameter scheme that optimizes both the polishing efficiency and resulting surface quality of a self-built ultrasonic-vibration-assisted polishing (UVAP) device using the gray relational analysis method. We have realized and verified the optimization of UVAP process parameters under multi-objective optimization indices, using a simple optimization procedure.