Technological principles for removal of defective surface layer on grinded ceramic products by etching with accelerated argon

Abstract

The article describes the technological principles and equipment for “dry” ion-plasma etching of the surface layer of SiAlON dielectric ceramics and subsequent deposition of (TiAl)N coatings. The proposed approach made it possible to ensure the high-performance removal of a defective layer formed during diamond grinding from the ceramic samples’ surface. Accelerated argon atoms with an energy of 5 keV are used as a source of energy impact on ceramic samples, which bombard the surface layer and ensure its sputtering at a rate of 9 μm/h. It is shown that the (TiAl)N coating deposition on ceramic samples after the preliminary removal of the defective layer reduces the volumetric wear under abrasive action by a factor of 2.6 compared to the initial samples subjected to diamond grinding.