A STUDY ON LAPPING MECHANISM BY METHOD OF VISUALIZATION (1ST REPORT) - A METHOD OF VISUALIZATION AND INVESTIGATION FOR MOVEMENT OF ABRASIVEGRAIN IN LAPPING

The behaviors of the flow of lapping liquid and the movement of abrasi ve grains were investigated by means of visualizations and an analysis of the finite element method. A visualization test made clear the beh avior of the flow of lapping liquid on the lap. The flow filled among lap and workpiece moved along the movement direction of workpiece. The lapping fluid and abrasive grains continued the turning motion in the groove after leaving the lapping interface. And then, it was known th at some large abrasive grains fell into the bottom of groove but some small grains returned to the lapping interface along with the flow of lapping liquid. The re-supplying condition of the abrasive grains from the groove depended on the grain size of the abrasive grain and slidi ng speed of workpiece. The motion of abrasive grains in the groove ana lized by FEM agreed with that observed in the visualization.