Construction of High Precision Grinding Equipment

Abstract

Advanced ceramics, thanks to their high strength at elevated temperatures, high resistance to wear and chemical attack, are becoming more widely used in industry. On the other hand, there is a growing need for aspheric optical surfaces free of sub-surface damage. The extending demand for parts made of brittle materials necessitates the use of high precision grinding. The grinding of brittle materials so far has been in brittle fracture mode, which results in poor surface finish. Ductile regime grinding can obviate these problems and produces mirror surface finish. At the Technical University of Budapest, Department of Manufacture Engineering, a high precision grinding machine has been constructed by mounting an additional spindle on a high precision lathe. This paper describes the reconstruction work.