Characteristics of textured polishing wheels for dry fixed abrasive polishing fused silica

Abstract

The dry fixed abrasive process integrates chemical reaction and ductile removal into one process and shows advantages against the conventional loose abrasive polishing in efficiency, geometric controllability, and waste disposal. However, it is worth noting that the wear and cutting temperatures encountered during the dry fixed abrasive process are areas that require further improvement. This manuscript develops textured polished wheels (TPWs) with three surface textures (spiral, linear, and radial) on the sintered polishing wheel. The influence of the TPWs on material removal depth and surface roughness for fused silica during the polishing process is investigated. The results indicate that the TPWs have the comparable material removal depth of the non-grooved polishing wheel while slightly increasing the surface roughness. However, it not only alleviates wheel wear but also improves the thermodynamics of airflow and chip removal in the polishing wheel and thus prevents surface wheel burning. Through experimental research, the TPW with a spiral-shape demonstrates the best performance with a material removal rate of 4.2657 µm/h and a surface roughness of approximately 3.0 nm.