Lapping machining of high-speed and high-precision ceramic bearing balls

In resent years, ceramic balls have been applied into precision bearings and other parts far and wide because of its advantages in light weight, high hardness, abrasive resistance, high-temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, little heat expansion coefficient and so on. The high-precision ceramic balls are machined by lapping usually, and the method of lapping has an important influence on the machining precision and efficiency of ceramic balls. In order to improve the precision and efficiency of ceramic ball machining, in the paper, a new cone lapping method is researched by the lapping experiment. The research result shows that the cone method is the optimal lapping method with high precision, high efficiency and the very simple machine. Furthermore, the mechanics characteristic of the cone lapping method have been analyzed and summarized, which will provide the basic principle and theoretical basis for the choice of primary geometry and mechanics parameter in the process of ceramic balls lapping.