POLISHING AND LAPPING TEMPERATURES

Polishing is a finishing process in which a smooth work surface is pro duced by rubbing it against a polishing block with an abrasive slurry interspersed between them. A model has been developed to estimate the temperature rise of the work surface in polishing. In this model, the forces acting on an abrasive particle are derived from a mechanistic a nalysis of abrasive-workpiece contacts. The heat generated at a contac t is taken as the product of the friction force and the relative slidi ng velocity between the abrasive and the work surface. Fbr calculating the heat flux transferred into the workpiece, each of the abrasive-wo rkpiece contacts is modeled as a hardness indentation of the work mate rial by a conical indenter. The moving heat source analyses of Jaeger and Blok are then. applied to estimate the fraction of the heat flux f lowing into the workpiece, and the maximum and average temperature ris e of the work surface. Calculations of the work surface temperature ri se are made for the polishing of steel, soda-lime glass, and ceramics. These show that the work surface temperature rise in polishing is qui te small, typically much less than 200 degrees C, and substantially le ss than. in grinding. The low values calculated for the work surface t emperature rise are shown to be consistent with many observation perta ining to the mechanical state of polished surfaces. The effect of poli shing process variables on the work surface temperature rise is analyz ed.