Crack-free ductile mode grinding of fused silica under controllable dry grinding conditions

•A dry grinding process is developed to grind fused silica in ductile mode.•Ductile–brittle transition mechanisms related to densification are analyzed.•A mathematics model of dry grinding temperature is estimated.•The temperature model is validated by a novel IR transmission measurement method.•The large grinding depth makes the process more controllable and effective.

A crack-free ductile mode grinding of fused silica was realized by a controllable dry grinding process in this research, which is attributed to the improvement of fused silica's ductile machinability induced by the high grinding temperature. The plastic deformation of fused silica consists of shear flow and densification. Plastic deformation mechanisms and cracking behaviors related to densification were investigated firstly by high temperature nanoindentation experiments to reveal the ductile–brittle transition mechanisms. Fused silica exhibits less densification and more shear flow at high temperature than room temperature. The critical ductile–brittle transition load of fused silica is higher at high temperature than room temperature. These results may lead to the improvement of the fused silica's ductile machinability at high temperature. Dry grinding experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of grinding depth. A mathematical model is established to predict the maximum temperature in workpiece. A novel infrared radiation (IR) transmission on-line measurement method was presented to acquire the workpiece temperature in the contact zone directly. The predicted results coincide well with the experiment results. Contrary to the conventional experience, a large grinding depth is beneficial for the surface quality and integrity in the dry grinding of fused silica due to the increased grinding temperature; however, the excessive grinding depth results in grinding wheel burn. The ductile grinding depth of the fused silica increases from sub-micrometers to 5 μm by dry grinding which makes the grinding process more controllable and effective.