A preliminary analysis on tool wear rate of polishing process: adhesion effects

The effects of adhesive strength between abrasive particle and work on tool wear of a polishing process were investigated. Several sets of experiments were designed to reveal some phenomena about the wear rates of tool and work. The experimental study demonstrated that the wear rate of tool was related to the adhesive strength between abrasive particle and work. Any change of the adhesive strength may significantly alter the wear rate of tool. It was shown that, with an electric field applied on the work, the tool's wear rate in polishing the soda-lime-silica glass could be very different from the one without the electric field. An analytical study was done to examine the role played by the adhesive strength at the interfaces of abrasive particle on the wear rates of tool and work. It was derived from the law of force equilibrium and the principle of minimum potential energy. The computer simulations indicated that an enhancement of adhesion between abrasive particle and work would always increase the wear rate at tool while the wear rate of work could be increased or decreased. Finally, the possible causes of observed phenomena and the limitations of the study were discussed.