Function of liquid and tool wear in ultrasonic bound-abrasive polishing of fused silica with different polishing tools

The recently proposed fixed-abrasive polishing process was revisited, but this paper focuses mainly on the potential influence of various liquids and the different kinds of pellets on the polishing process as well as the wear of pellet in ultrasonic assisted and conventional processes. The results show that using liquids is helpful in improving surface quality and lowering surface roughness. In particular, the surface roughness is improved sharply for pore-free pellet, from >80 nm to <1 nm (avg.) and the polishing process smoothly proceed that otherwise will hardly progress without liquids. However, the liquids do not necessarily always improve polishing process. There is an optimal volume for a specific polishing process. Moreover, the wear of pellet was also evaluated as well. The results suggest that applying ultrasonics can effectively alleviate the wear loss of pellet and increase the “G-ratio” of polishing process.