Study on the Electrorheological Ultra-Precision Polishing Process with an Annular Integrated Electrode.

Cheng Fan,Yucheng Xue,Yigang Chen,Lei Zhang

doi:10.3390/mi12101235

Abstract

Electrorheological (ER) polishing, as a new ultra-precision super-effect polishing method, provides little damage to the workpiece surface and is suitable for polishing all kinds of small and complex curved surface workpieces. In this paper, an ER polishing tool with an annular integrated electrode is developed. The orthogonal experiments are carried out on the six influencing factors of ER polishing which include the applied voltage, the abrasive particle size, the abrasive concentration, the polishing gap, the polishing time and the tool spindle speed. The influence order of these six factors on the ER polishing is obtained. On this basis, the effect of a single process parameter of ER polishing on surface roughness is studied experimentally.

Highlights

With the development of communications technology and the modern medical level, there is an increasing demand for electronic and optical components with complex surfaces and high surface quality, such as the spherical and aspheric lenses [1]
In the traditional polishing methods, the polishing pad and grinding head are mostly used to directly contact with the workpiece surface for polishing, and grinding paste is added between the polishing pad and the workpiece, or abrasive particles such as abrasive belt and grinding wheel are fixed on the grinding head [6,7]
In order to overcome the defects of traditional polishing, it is necessary to seek a flexible and compliant polishing process that can continuously gather the abrasive particles in the polishing area for a long time

Summary

Introduction

With the development of communications technology and the modern medical level, there is an increasing demand for electronic and optical components with complex surfaces and high surface quality, such as the spherical and aspheric lenses [1]. The ER polishing technology is a compliant polishing method which uses the ER effect under an electric field to process the workpiece surface. It is suitable for both conductive and non-conductive workpieces [26]. Research on ER polishing mainly focuses on the process method, process law, tool system and corresponding equipment development of polishing micro-aspheric lenses of optical glass and their forming die made of cemented carbide, silicon wafer and other conductive and non-conductive workpieces [27,28,29]. Zhang et al [30,31,32] studied the mechanism and material removal model of ER polishing, regarding tool electrode speed, processing time, applied voltage, abrasive type and concentration.

ER Polishing Equipment

Discussion

Surface

Variation

Conclusions