Ultrafine Surface Finishing of Fused Silica Glass Using MCF (Magnetic Compound Fluid) Wheel

Abstract

This paper aims to develop an alternative novel technique for the high efficiency and ultrafine surface finishing of fused silica glass. A semi-fixed abrasive tool named MCF (magnetic compound fluid) wheel is produced by distributing a certain volume of MCF slurry uniformly over the whole circumference surface of ring-shaped permanent magnets. An experimental rig is constructed in house followed by experimental investigations involving effects of the MCF wheel construction and process parameters on the material removal and work-surface roughness. As a result, the performance of the developed MCF wheel in the surface finishing of fused silica glass has been confirmed, and the appropriate wheel construction and process parameters have been determined in terms of the material removal rate, the flatness of polishing area and the surface roughness, showing an extremely smooth work-surface with surface roughness of Ra0.92nm has been achieved successfully in the current work.