Ductile Mode Behavior of Silicon During Scribing by Spherical Abrasive Particles

Reducing surface and subsurface damage in cutting brittle materials using fixed abrasive processes like wire sawing is an important challenge. This paper investigates the effect of size and shape of abrasives on ductile mode cutting of single crystal silicon. Diamond and tungsten carbide abrasives of different shapes (irregular and spherical) deposited on a steel surface are used to scribe silicon and the material removal mode is analyzed. Experiments show that spherical abrasives enhance ductile mode cutting when compared to irregular shapes, yielding a smoother surface and significantly fewer micro-cracks.