Study on removal mechanism and removal characters for SiC and fused silica by fixed abrasive diamond pellets

Fixed abrasive is known as a high-efficient and stable technique for fabricating various materials. This work studies the removal mechanism and removal characters of fixed abrasive diamond pellets (FADPs) for lapping SiC and fused silica. The critical sizes of diamond particles changing brittle fracture to ductile removal (with better surface roughness and less damages) are figured out for SiC (9.56 mu m) and fused silica (0.53 mu m). Multi-distribution models are presented and a mathematical removal model is built based on Preston law. Then, removal characters of FADPs are investigated, including removal profile, removal rate, linear removal, removal stability, surface roughness, subsurface damage etc. Results show that (i) the removal shape is predictable and the removal rate is highly correlative with diamond size, velocity and pressure; (ii) the cumulative removal is temporally linear and removal stability is within +/- 10%; (iii) SiC can be ductilely lapped by 1.5, 3, 5 mu m pellets, with best roughness Ra=4.8 nm and a specular surface for optical metrology; (iv) removal of fused silica is mostly brittle fracture and it can change as semi-ductile by 1.5 mu m pellets, with a non-specular or semi-specular surface which is hard for optical metrology; (v) subsurface damage is highly dependent on diamond size, but free to pressure and velocity. Finally, two engineering applications validated its feasibility in uniform or deterministic lapping/polishing of optical mirrors. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.