Study of the effects of laser micro structuring on grinding of silicon nitride ceramics

A novel laser assisted grinding process is developed to increase the material removal rates in grinding Si3N4. Micro structuring of the workpiece surface by nano- and pico-second laser radiations prior to the grinding led to a reduction of up to 55% in the specific grinding energy while simultaneously a slightly improved ground surface quality could be achieved. Ablation mechanism of nano- and pico-second lasers and surface integrity of the ground samples are studied. The results of single grain scratch tests suggest that the reduced specific grinding energy through laser structuring of workpiece is mainly due to the induced lateral cracks.