Development of on the machine process monitoring and control strategy in Robot Assisted Polishing

Robot Assisted Polishing (RAP) can be used to polish rotational symmetric and free form components achieving surface roughness down to Sa 10 nm. With the aim to enable unmanned robust and cost efficient application of RAP, this paper presents the development of a monitoring and control strategy for automatic detection of process end point as well as on the machine total surface characterization and local defects identification. The approach is based on a multisensory polishing arm allowing measurement of Acoustic Emission and process forces and a scattered light sensor mounted on the machine. The multisensory approach was experimentally validated in polishing with bonded abrasives demonstrating its suitability for process control in RAP.