ULTRASONIC-ASSISTED FIXED-ABRASIVE LAPPING

TECHNOLOGY FOR ENGINEERING CERAMICS

CYLINDRICAL PART

SEMINAR REPORT

Submitted By

SARAN S DHARAN (13401068)

To
The University of Kerala
In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for The Award of the Degree
Of
Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Government Engineering College, Barton Hill,
Thiruvananthapuram - 35
April 2017
 DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
GOVERNMENT ENGINEERING COLLEGE BARTON HILL,
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - 35

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the report entitled “ULTRASONIC-ASSISTED FIXED-

ABRASIVE LAPPING TECHNOLOGY FOR ENGINEERING
CERAMICS CYLINDRICAL PART” submitted by SARAN S DHARAN
(13401068) to the University of Kerala in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
award of the Degree of Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering is a bonafide
record of work carried out by him under my guidance and supervision.

Guide Staff Advisor

Dr. RAKESH P GANESH J

HEAD OF THE DEPT

Prof. ANIL LAL
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The satisfaction that accompanies the successful completion of the task would be put
incomplete without the mention of the people who made it possible, whose constant guidance
and encouragement crown all the efforts with success.

My seminar titled ‘ULTRASONIC-ASSISTED

FIXED-ABRASIVE LAPPING
TECHNOLOGY FOR ENGINEERING CERAMICS CYLINDRICAL PART’ has been made
possible as a result of the help given by a number of personalities. I take this opportunity to
express our deep sense of gratitude to all those who have helped us in making this presentation
a success.
With great pleasure I take this opportunity to thank our Principal Dr. for availing us with
required facilities within the campus. I would also like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the
HOD of the Mechanical Department, Prof. Dr. Anil Lal for his sincere cooperation.
I am thankful to our project guide Dr. Rakesh P who was always ready to help with the ideas
and suggestions for rectifying the mistakes that crept up from time to time during the
completion of this presentation. And we are also thank full to our staff advisor Ganesh J for his
valuable instructions and judgment of our presentation. Lastly I would like to extend my warm
gratitude towards all the staff in the Mechanical Engineering Department, for this seminar
wouldn’t have been a success without all of their help and support.

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 ABSTRACT

Engineering ceramics are widely used in many fields for their excellent merits, such as higher
hardness and strength, good abrasive resistance, and lower thermal conductivity and expansion
coefficient. Improving the surface quality and machining precision has increasingly become a
critical task in the precision manufacturing of those engineering ceramics components.
Correspondingly, lots of finishing methods were put forward, among which lapping is a very
important processing method, directly affecting machining quality, precision, and efficiency of
precision components. Due to some drawbacks of free-abrasive lapping such as deep scratches
on the lapped surface, lower lapping efficiency for lower lapping speed, severe waste of
abrasive, high-processing cost, and so on, conventional fixed-abrasive lapping (CFL)
technology was proposed and developed. Meanwhile, considering the unique advantages of the
ultrasonic-assisted machining during the processing of those hard and brittle materials and the
effect of ultrasonic vibration on the self-sharpening characteristic of abrasive pellet, a novel
ultrasonic-assisted fixed-abrasive lapping (UAFL) technology is put forward and
corresponding lapping device for engineering ceramics cylindrical part is developed.

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 CONTENTS

List of Tables ⅵ
List of Figures ⅶ
List of Abbreviations ⅷ
Notations ⅸ

Chapter Titles
1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review
2.1 Lapping 2
2.2 Free Abrasive Lapping 3
2.3 Fixed Abrasive Lapping 4
2.4 Ultrasonic Machining 5

3. Experimentation
3.1 Ultrasonic-Assisted Fixed-Abrasive Lapping Device 6
3.2 Test Conditions 8

4. Result and Discussion

4.1 Lapping Force Curve Characteristic 9
4.2 Material Removal Rate Characteristic 10
4.3 Surface Roughness Characteristic 11
4.4 Surface Microgeometrical Structure Characteristic 12

Conclusion 13

Reference 14

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 LIST OF TABLES

Sl. No. Title Page No.

3.1 Material properties 8

3.2 Test Conditions 8

vi
 LIST OF FIGURES

Sl. No. Title Page No.

2.1 Cylindrical Part Lapping 2

2.2 Free-Abrasive Lapping 3

2.3 Fixed-Abrasive Lapping 4

2.4 The USM Process 5

3.1 Ultrasonic-assisted fixed- 6

abrasive lapping device

3.2 A series of lapping tools 6

3.3 Lapping pressure adjustment 7

system

4.1 Lapping force waveforms 9

4.2 Material removal rate 10

(MRR) characteristic

4.3 Surface roughness 11

characteristic

4.4 SEM photos of lapped 12

surface of ZrO2 ceramic

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 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

USM Ultrasonic Machining

CFL Conventional Fixed-Abrasive Lapping

UAFL Ultrasonic-Assisted Fixed-Abrasive Lapping

MRR Material Removal Rate

ZTA Zirconia Toughened Alumina

SEM Scanning Electron Microscope

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 NOTATIONS

A Ultrasonic Vibration Amplitude

D Diameter Of The Workpiece

f Ultrasonic Vibration Frequency

k Elastic Coefficient

p The Number Of Scale On The Dial

P Nominal Lapping Pressure

Ra Surface Roughness

t Vibration Time

T Screw Pitch

V Moving Speed Of Lapping Tool

δ Depth Of Cut

ε Regulation Precision Of Lapping Pressure

ω Angular Speed Of Workpiece

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 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Engineering ceramics have been widely used in many fields for their excellent merits, such as
higher hardness, strength, good abrasive resistance, lower thermal conductivity and expansion
coefficient. Improving the surface quality and machining precision has increasingly become
the critical task in the precision manufacturing of those engineering ceramics components.
Correspondingly, lots of finishing methods were put forward, among which lapping is a very
important processing method, directly affecting machining quality, precision, and efficiency of
precision components.
Ultrasonic machining (USM) is a technology-driven process used for machining or finishing
brittle abrasives or materials such as ceramics. Its material-removal mechanism includes
impacting, hammering, and cavitation. This process is also used effectively to machine both
conductive and non-conductive materials. The USM is effective and practical for all brittle
materials, including glass, ceramics, carbide, and graphite.
Considering the unique advantages of the ultrasonic-assisted machining during the processing
of hard and brittle materials and the effect of ultrasonic vibration on the self-sharpening
characteristic of abrasive pellet, a novel Ultrasonic-Assisted Fixed-abrasive Lapping (UAFL)
technology is put forward and corresponding lapping device for engineering ceramics
cylindrical part is developed.
 CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 LAPPING
It is a controlled mechanical sanding or polishing process that involves an abrasive between
two surfaces that are rubbed together to create an accurate finish on a part. Depending on the
material and application for the part, lapping can be one sided or two sided. Lapping can be
used to create a specific surface roughness. Lapping can produce surface finishes in the
nanometre (or 0.001 μm) range. According to abrasive type and adding way, precision lapping
can be divided into free-abrasive lapping and fixed-abrasive lapping.

Fig.2.1 Cylindrical Part Lapping

Figure 2.1 shows the sketch map of precision lapping of cylindrical part. The part is clamped
through mandrel and two canters and driven to rotate with angular speed ω through lathe carrier
clamping around the work piece and driver plate mounted on the machine spindle. Lapping
tool moving to and fro with speed V applies certain lapping pressure to the part through elastic
loading system. According to abrasive type and adding way, precision lapping can be divided
into free-abrasive lapping and fixed-abrasive lapping.
2.2 FREE-ABRASIVE LAPPING
During lapping with free abrasive, a mixture of free abrasive and lapping compound was
applied on soft brass lapping tool. As shown in Fig.2.2, under the action of lapping tool and
workpiece, some particles embedded in the lapping tool exert ploughing action with different
depths of cut δ to the workpiece, while some particles rolling between the tool and workpiece
only produce scratch action on the workpiece. Because the particles are not the same size, only
those large particles take part in lapping, resulting in the relatively low amount of working grit
and the big lapping force per participating grit. So, some deep scratches can often be found on
the lapped surface. Especially when lapping ceramics part, according to indentation fracture
mechanics, bigger indentation force is easy to cause central crack, which will influence the
surface quality seriously. Besides, there are some drawbacks of free-abrasive lapping, such as
lower lapping efficiency for lower lapping speed (often less than 75 m/min), severe waste of
abrasive, high-processing cost, and so on. Correspondingly, fixed-abrasive lapping technology
was put forward and developed recently, which is named CFL relative to UAFL technology
proposed.

Fig.2.2 Free-Abrasive Lapping

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2.3 FIXED ABRASIVE LAPPING
In this lapping technology, instead of free-abrasive particles, abrasive pellets, formed through
solidifying free grains with bonding agent, were embedded in or glued on the lapping tool and
perform lapping action. CFL model is shown in Fig.2.3. Just like grinding wheel, the lapping
tool can be dressed and the abrasive particles in each pellet present good equal-height
accordance. So, not only large grains but also small grains can contact the workpiece and take
part in lapping with the same depth of cut δ. As a result, the lapping force per participating
grain is smaller than that in lapping with free abrasive under the same lapping pressure, and
the better lapped surface can be obtained. Furthermore, liquid coolant can be used in this kind
of lapping, so the lapping speed can increase up to 150 m/min, as heightens the lapping
efficiency obviously.

Fig.2.3 Fixed-Abrasive Lapping

Conventional fixed-abrasive lapping of cylindrical part, in a way, is similar to external honing
and superfinishing. But there are some differences among them. Compared with external
honing, the lapping tool is guided externally, not floating on and being guided by the work
surface; the rotating speed of workpiece in CFL can reach higher. The difference between CFL
and superfinishing is not very distinct. Generally, in superfinishing, the abrasive stone often
covers the section of the workpiece requiring super-finish, oscillating with short stroke but high
frequency. Moreover, the rotation of workpiece and the cutting pressure in superfinishing are
usually kept low. Although there are many advantages of CFL, it is found that blockage of
abrasive pellet is easy to be generated because of small space among particles, and chattering
phenomenon is often produced for the big contact area between lapping tool and workpiece, so
the lapping quality and efficiency will be affected to a certain extent. Considering the unique
advantages of the ultrasonic-assisted machining during the processing of those hard and brittle
materials and the effect of ultrasonic vibration on the self-sharpening characteristic of abrasive
pellet, a novel UAFL technology is put forward. Here a set of self-developed UAFL device for
engineering ceramics cylindrical part is developed and presented, and corresponding UAFL
mechanism and characteristics are researched.

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2.4 ULTRASONIC MACHINING (USM)

Ultrasonic machining is a non-traditional machining process. USM is used for machining or

finishing brittle abrasives or materials such as ceramics. The USM system consists of the
generator, machining tool, operator controls, and grit system. In ultrasonic machining, a tool
of desired shape vibrates at an ultrasonic frequency (19 ~ 25 kHz) with an amplitude of around
15 – 50 μm over the workpiece. Generally, the tool is pressed downward with a feed force, F.
Between the tool and workpiece, the machining zone is flooded with hard abrasive particles
generally in the form of a water based slurry. As the tool vibrates over the workpiece, the
abrasive particles act as the indenters and indent both the work material and the tool. The
abrasive particles, as they indent, the work material, would remove the same, particularly if the
work material is brittle, due to crack initiation, propagation and brittle fracture of the material.
Hence, USM is mainly used for machining brittle materials {which are poor conductors of
electricity and thus cannot be processed by Electrochemical and Electro-discharge machining.

Fig.2.4 The USM Process

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 CHAPTER 3
EXPERIMENTATION
3.1 ULTRASONIC-ASSISTED FIXED-ABRASIVE LAPPING DEVICE
Fig.3.1 shows the self-developed UAFL device, which is composed of four systems: ultrasonic
vibration system, lapping tool system, pressure adjustment system, and movement driving
system. The ultrasonic vibration system includes ultrasonic power, transducer, and amplitude
transformer. An ultrasonic vibration frequency of 20 kHz is chosen as the working frequency,
and the whole acoustic system was designed correspondingly. The lapping tool systems with
different grit size are shown in Fig.4.2. Under the exciting of ultrasonic vibration system, the
lapping tool with some inlaid diamond pellets can ultrasonically vibrate in axial direction.

Fig.3.1 Ultrasonic-assisted fixed-abrasive lapping device

Fig.3.2 A series of lapping tools

Figure 4.3 details the lapping pressure adjustment system, which consists of handle, dial, screw,
nut slider, upper spring, and lower spring. The working mechanism of lapping pressure
adjustment system is similar with nut screw pair. The rotation of the screw drives the nut to
move up and down. A slider fixed to ultrasonic vibration system is installed on the screw and
can slide along dovetail guideway of the device. Moreover, the upper spring is installed
between the nut and the slider; the lower spring is between the slider and the device body.
When the screw is rotated to a certain angle, both the upper spring and the lower spring will be
compressed simultaneously from equilibrium position until the lapping tool touches the
workpiece. At this time, the lapping pressure P should be zero. Then, if the screw is continued
to be rotated, the upper spring will be further compressed so as to drive the lapping tool to press
the workpiece with certain pressure.

Fig 3.3 Lapping pressure adjustment system

The regulation precision of lapping pressure depends on screw pitch, scale span of the dial, and
elastic coefficient of the upper spring, which can be calculated as
ε = kT/1000 p
where ε is the regulation precision of lapping pressure (N/scale span), k is elastic coefficient of
the upper spring (N/m), T is the screw pitch (mm), and p is the number of scale on the dial.
According to the design, the regulation precision of lapping pressure in the research reaches to
0.5 N/scale span, as is enough to realize the precision adjustment of lapping pressure. In
addition, main movement and feed movement of the device can be driven by the machining
tool, so the rotation accuracy of workpiece and the feed rate of the lapping device depend
entirely on the machine tool.

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3.2 TEST CONDITIONS
Lapping tests were conducted by means of self-developed UAFL device shown in Fig. 3.1.
Tables 3.1 and 3.2 list the mechanical properties of experimental engineering ceramics and the
test conditions, respectively. A series of contrast lapping tests were carried out in the research.
In order to make experimental results comparable, all the lapping parameters except for
ultrasonic parameters were kept the same in each group of contrast experiments.
Table 3.1 Material properties
Engineering ceramics Zirconia (ZrO2) Zirconia toughened alumina
(ZTA)
Hardness (HRA) 88 83–88
Density (g/cm3 ) 6.0–6.14 4.6–4.99
Elastic modulus (GPa) 210 285
Bending strength (MPa) 1000–1500 650–900
Fracture toughness(MPam1/2) 9.0–11.0 6–7.6

Table 3.2 Test Conditions

Item Test conditions
Equipment CQM6132 precision instrument lathe
Self-developed ultrasonic-assisted fixed-
abrasive lapping device
Workpiece Heat pressing engineering ceramics ring
Materials: ZTA and ZrO2 engineering
ceramics Size: φ120 × φ80 × φ20 mm
Lapping pellet Bronze-bonded diamond lapping pellet
Specifications: φ 6 × 8 mm
Matrix height: 3 mm
Grit size: 28 µm and 7 µm
Concentration: 100%
Porosity: 2–3%
Lapping parameters Workpiece speed: 125 rpm, 250 rpm, 350
rpm, and 500 rpm
Lapping pressure: 50 N, 100 N, 150 N, and
200N Feed rate: 0.128 mm/r
Coolant Self-formulated coolant ceramic grinding
fluid
Ultrasonic parameters Maximum amplitude of lapping tool:8µm
Frequency: 20 kHz
Measuring instrument SCD-CJ4A dynamometer developed by
Beihang University
Measurement range: 0–2000 N
Measurement accuracy: 0.2 N
SURTRONIC 3+ portable surface roughness
tester
JSM-5610LV scanning electron microscope
(SEM)

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 CHAPTER 4
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1 Lapping Force Curve Characteristic
During test, a strain gauge type dynamometer was adopted to measure lapping forces. Before
measurement, it is necessary to calibrate the dynamometer. Normal and tangential lapping
force curves obtained from UAFL and CFL are described in Figs 4.1 (a) and (b), respectively,
where the upper red line denotes the zero line of corresponding to normal force and the lower
red line stands for zero line of channel 4 corresponding to tangential force in test. The interval
between two blue lines indicates 50 N of cutting force. From the figures, we can see that both
the value and the waveform of the normal lapping force are much the same because both UAFL
and CFL are conducted under the same conditions. Because of the radial run out of the machine
tool spindle, the normal force fluctuates with the rotation of the workpiece. As for the tangential
force, it presents different characteristic in the two lapping modes. Because of the differences
of material removal mechanism and lapping movement characteristics between UAFL and
CFL, especially the antifriction performance of superimposed parallel vibration to the contact
surface, not only the value of tangential force in UAFL becomes smaller but also the volatility
of waveform changes smoother.

Fig 4.1 Lapping force waveforms (lapping condition: P=100 N, n=250 rpm, f=0.128 mm/r
and grit size 28µm) (a) lapping without ultrasonic assistance and (b) lapping with ultrasonic
assistance
4.2 Material Removal Rate Characteristic.
Figure 4.2 shows the MRR characteristic when lapping ZTA ceramics with and without
ultrasonic assistance. Both coarse abrasive grains with grit size of 28 µm and fine abrasive
grains with grit size of 7 µm were used in the tests. Lapping conditions are listed in the figure.
From Fig. 4.2(a), it can be observed that MRR of ZTA ceramic increases with the lapping speed
except the relationship is not linear. Especially when using coarse grains, the increase trend
gradually becomes slow with the increase of speed. The main reason is because the lapping
temperature will increase directly with lapping speed, accompanying with the changes of
abrasive grains’ mechanical properties and the quick wear of the grains. Meanwhile, we can
find that the superimposed ultrasonic vibration really promotes the increase of MRR, as has
been explained in the above analysis of UAFL mechanism. From Fig. 4.2(b), it can be found
that lapping pressure has remarkable influence of material removal. In general, MRR should
present linear relationship with lapping pressure. However, because the lapping pressure may
suppress the vibration effect and cooling effect, lapping pressure and speed have similar
influencing rule on MRR.

Fig 4.2 Material removal rate (MRR) characteristic: (a) effect of lapping speed on MRR and (b) effect
of lapping pressure on MRR

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4.3 Surface Roughness Characteristic
Surface roughness is one of the crucial factors affecting the usage of the engineering ceramics
parts. Surface roughness characteristics both in UAFL and CFL were researched
experimentally, and the results are displayed in Fig. 4.3. The value of surface roughness Ra
was measured on the middle position of the workpiece after test. The measurement replicated
three times, and then, the average value was calculated. From Fig. 4.3(a), it can be found that
the surface quality of workpiece in UAFL is better than that in CFL. According to the above
analysis of UAFL mechanism, movement locus of abrasive grains in UAFL is different from
that in CFL, the loci may interfere and interlace, resulting in smooth and good surface.
Especially when adopting lower lapping speed, the effect of ultrasonic vibration is more
remarkable. Along with the increase of lapping speed, the surface roughness increases
correspondingly, as can be explained that lapping speed may weaken the action of ultrasonic
vibration to some extent. From Fig. 4.3(b), it can be found that lapping pressure plays an
important part on the surface roughness Ra of ZTA ceramic workpiece, especially when using
coarse grains. Suitable pressure can benefit the improvement of surface roughness. Excessive
pressure may lead to rapid deterioration of surface quality.

Fig 4.3 Surface roughness characteristic: (a) effect of lapping speed on Ra and (b) effect of lapping
pressure on Ra

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5.4 Surface Microgeometrical Structure Characteristic
According to the material properties of experimental engineering ceramics shown in Table 1,
fracture toughness of ZrO2 ceramic is much greater than that of ZTA ceramic, so ductile regime
material removal will occupy the main position when lapping ZrO2 ceramic. In the test, we
choose ZrO2 ceramic as the lapping object in order to study the surface microgeometrical
structure characteristic of UAFL. Figures 4.4(a) and 4.4(b) display the SEM photos of lapped
surface with grit size of 7 µm with and without ultrasonic assistance, respectively. Through
comparing the two figures, it can be found that the surface obtained in CFL is more regular and
many parallel lapping marks can be found. However, the marks present different
characteristics, some scratches are very deep but some are shallow. From the SEM photo
obtained in UAFL, because superimposed vibration affects the movement locus of abrasive
grain, the grain scratches will be interlaced each other and the interlaced lapping marks can be
generated in the lapped surface. As a result, the lapped surface in UAFL is better than that in
CFL.

Fig 4.4 SEM photos of lapped surface of ZrO2 ceramic: (a) with ultrasonic assistance and (b) without
ultrasonic assistance

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 CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION

A detailed study on Ultrasonic-Assisted Fixed-Abrasive Lapping Technology for engineering

ceramics cylindrical concludes that:
i. The superimposed ultrasonic vibration in UAFL promotes the increase of MRR.
ii. The superimposed ultrasonic vibration in UAFL can lower friction coefficient,
smoothen the waveform of tangential force, and reduce the average tangential force.
iii. Interlaced lapping marks can be generated in the lapped surface; smooth and good
surface can be obtained in UAFL.
iv. UAFL is a suitable high efficiency and precision processing technology for engineering
ceramics cylindrical part.
 REFERENCES

1) Feng Jiao and Bo Zhao, 2017, “Research on Ultrasonic-Assisted Fixed-Abrasive

Lapping Technology for Engineering Ceramics Cylindrical Part”.
2) Kang, J., and Hadfield, M., 2005, “Examination of the Material Removal Mechanisms
During the Lapping Process of Advanced Ceramic Rolling Elements,” Wear.
3) Ghahramani, B., and Wang, Z. Y., 2001, “Precision Ultrasonic Machining Process: A
Case Study of Stress Analysis of Ceramic,” Int. J. Mach. Tools Manuf.
4) Yuan, J. L., and Zhao, P., 2003, “Lapping and Polishing Process for Obtaining Super-
Smooth Surfaces of Quartz Crystal,” J. Mater. Process. Technology.
5) http://metalcutting.com/what-is-lapping/
6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapping

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