International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 45 (2005) 14611467 www.elsevier.

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Investigation into electrorheological uid-assisted polishing

Lei Zhanga,*, Tsunemoto Kuriyagawab, Tsuyoshi Kakub, Ji Zhaoa
a

School of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Nanling Campus, Jilin University, Changchun 130025, Jilin Province, Peoples Republic of China b Department of Mechatronics and Precision Engineering, Tohoku University, Aramaki Aoba 01, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980 8579, Japan Received 9 November 2004; accepted 20 January 2005 Available online 4 March 2005

Abstract Electrorheological uid (ER uid) is a functional uid with the property that its viscosity can vary with the applied electric eld strength. This paper investigates a polishing method using the electrorheological uid, known as ER uid-assisted polishing, for the nishing of micro dies of tungsten carbide alloy, which are used for the mass production of micro aspheric glass lens. The machining principle of the ER uidassisted polishing is introduced. By proper design of experiments based on a Taguchi orthogonal array and by multi-variable linear regression, empirical models are developed for evaluation of the effect of the process parameters on the material removal depth and surface roughness obtained in the ER uid-assisted polishing. Further experiments are conducted to conrm the validity of the developed statistical model by comparing the model predictions with the experimental results and meanwhile the inuences of the process parameters on the polishing performance are revealed. q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Electrorheological uid; Polishing; Taguchi method; Multi-variable linear regression

1. Introduction The advantages of aspheric lenses over spherical lenses in optical systems have been well documented over the years. Using aspheric lens usually results in both better performance of almost every imaging optical systems and reduced lens count when compared with an equivalent allspherical design. Aspheric lens are widely used in the civil and military products. Glass moulding technology is an economical way for mass production of aspheric glass lens, in which the commonly-used die material is tungsten carbide alloy. The manufacture of ultra-precision optical aspheric lens requires more precise dies with higher form accuracy and lower surface roughness, so after grinding, polishing is needed for the die making. Recently the size of every component for various optoelectrical devices such as digital camera, DVD, endoscopes for surgical treatment, etc. has been reduced due to the progress in opto-digital communication technology, medical technology and imaging technology.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: C86 431 5094950; fax: C86 431 5095288. E-mail address: zhangleihm@yahoo.com (L. Zhang). 0890-6955/$ - see front matter q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijmachtools.2005.01.021

Therefore there exists a considerable demand for the micro-sized optical glass lenses and this stimulates the research into new method for the polishing of micro-sized dies used for the production of micro glass lenses. The ability to hold as many abrasive particles as possible in the working area for as long as possible is generally considered to be of primary importance in improving the efciency of any polishing process. Conventional polishing method based on the use of a polishing pad that is scanned across the die surface is not suitable for the polishing of a small aspheric surface of the die, because difculties arise both in the manufacturing of the small polishing pads and in limiting the polishing area to a small range. Much research work is carried out about the different eld- assisted polishing methods, such as magnetic abrasive polishing [13], magnetic uid polishing [46], magnetorheological polishing [7,8] and electrophoresis polishing [9], to achieve the good polishing performance. But these methods are proved to be effective in the polishing of macro and meso scale parts. It is still difcult to concentrate abrasive particles to a tiny area of small die using these methods. Kuriyagawa and Syoji [10] rst propose the concept of mixing ultra-ne abrasive particles (diamond, GC or WA) in an electrorheological (ER) uid and employing

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the electrorheological effect to gather and stabilize the abrasive particles in the vicinity of the tip of the tool for the creation and polishing of small three-dimensional shapes. The electrorheological effect is such that the apparent viscosity of the ER uid increases in proportion to the strength of the applied electric eld and returns to its original viscosity when the electric eld is removed. It is conrmed that the addition of abrasive particles to an ER uid results in only minimal deterioration of the electrorheological effect and that it is possible to use a needle-like electric conductive tool as an electrode in the ER uidassisted polishing process [10]. The behavior of electrorheological particles and abrasive particles in the vicinity of the tip of the tool is observed by CCD microscope when a DC or AC electric eld is applied [1113]. It is clearly shown that the electrorheological effect facilitates concentration of the abrasive particles at the tool tip, even while the tool is rotating. And the excellent polishing performance of small areas by ER uid-assisted polishing is also demonstrated. But previous research focuses on the workpiece of non-conductive material such as borosilicate glass. An auxiliary electrode in circular shape is needed to surround the glass surface to be polished when the needle-like tool electrode is positioned in the centre to form a circular type electric eld. And at this stage, little comprehensive work is reported to analytically or experimentally model the ER uid-assisted polishing operations. This paper extends the ER uid-assisted polishing to the electric conductive material such as tungsten carbide. The polishing principle for the conductive material is stated in Section 2. Due to many complexities involved in the polishing process, empirical models are developed in Section 3 by proper design of experiments based on a Taguchi orthogonal array and by multi-variable linear regression for evaluating the effect of process parameters on the maximum material removal depth and surface roughness. Then the conrmation experiments to verify the empirical models and the discussion about the inuence of process parameters on the polishing performance are presented. A summary of ndings is given in the concluding section.

Fig. 1. Principle of ER uid-assisted polishing for conductive workpiece.

uniform distribution of particles to that of a chain-like distribution. The attraction forces created between the electrorheological particles result in an apparent increase in viscosity of the electrorheological uid. The change in viscosity occurs over a period of the order of milliseconds, and is reversible. The abrasive particles suspended in the ER uid also become polarized when an electric eld is applied, and form an array of stable chains together with the electrorheological particles. The principle of ER uid-assisted polishing for the conductive workpiece is shown in Fig. 1. The micro tool and the conductive workpiece are directly used as the electrodes and the mixture of abrasive particles and ER uid is supplied to the gap between the tool and workpiece. When the electric eld is applied, the lines of electric force radiate from the tip of the tool to the workpiece surface. The concentrated bands composed of abrasive particles and electrorheological particles are formed along these lines. Because the lines of electric force concentrate and the electric eld strength is highest in the vicinity of the tool tip, a large number of particles aggregate stably at the tool tip, as shown in Fig. 2, forming a polishing brush to make the material directly below the tool removed when the tool and the workpiece are rotated, respectively.

2. Principle of ER uid-assisted polishing for conductive material Electrorheological uids are composed of small electrorheological particles (disperse phase) dispersed in nonconducting liquids (continuous phase) and their structure and rheological properties such as viscosity and stress are dramatically altered by external electric elds. The ultrane abrasive particles are mixed into the ER uid. The electrorheological effect results from the polarization of suspended dielectric electrorheological particles in the electrorheological uid due to the application of an electric eld, and a consequent transition from a condition of

Fig. 2. Formation of a polishing brush.

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3. Empirical model for ER uid-assisted polishing For ER uid-assisted polishing of conductive workpieces, various process parameters have inuence on the polishing results. Five process parameters chosen in this paper to investigate their effects on the maximum depth of material removal and roughness of the polished surface are the applied voltage (U) in volts, the rotational speed of the tool (nt) in rpm, the rotational speed of the workpiece (nw) in rpm, the mixing ratio (h) in wt % and the machining time (T) in minute. The mixing ratio h is a weight percentage dened as
h Weight of abrasive particle !100% Weight of the mixture of ER fluid and abrasive particle (1)

Eqs. (2) and (3) can be expressed as Y1 Z X01 C

5 X iZ1 5 X iZ1

ai X i

(6)

Y2 Z X02 C

g i Xi

(7)

The factors Xi in Eqs. (6) and (7) can be substituted by their dimensionless coded values and the coding of the factors can be done using the following equation xi Z Xi K Xi 0 ln Zi K ln Zi0 Z XiC K Xi0 ln ZiC K ln Zi0 (8)

The mixing ratio h indicates at what weight percentage the abrasive particles are mixed for the total suspension. In view of the complex mechanism involved in ER uidassisted polishing, models obtained through empirical studies and statistical analysis can be used for the purpose of process description, prediction and control. The functional relationship between the variables of ER uidassisted polishing process and the maximum depth of material removal and the roughness of the polished surface is assumed to take the form of
a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 2 a3 a4 a5 De a0 Z1 Z2 Z3 Z4 Z5 a0 U a1 na t nw h T

where xi is the dimensionless coded value of Xi. Xi0 is the zero level of Xi, which corresponds to Zi0, the zero level of Zi. The expression of Xi0 is given by Xi 0 Z XiC C XiK ln ZiC C ln ZiK Z 2 2 (9)

where ZiC and ZiK are the higher and lower level of Zi, respectively. XiC and XiK are the higher and lower level of Xi, which correspond to ZiC and ZiK, respectively. After coding, the coded value xi takes on values of C1 and K1 for the higher and lower level of the process parameter Zi. By substituting the factors with their dimensionless coded values, Eqs. (6) and (7) may take the form of y1 Z h0 C
5 X iZ1

(2)

hi xi

(10)

and
g1 g 2 g3 g4 g5 2 g3 g4 g5 Z2 Z3 Z4 Z5 Z g0 U g1 ng Ry Z g0 Z1 t nw h T

(3)

and y2 Z l0 C
5 X iZ1

where De is the maximum depth of material removal in nm, Ry is the surface roughness characterized by the peak-tovalley roughness height in nm. ai and gi (iZ0,1,2, 3,4,5) are the coefcients to be determined experimentally and Zi (iZ1,2,3,4,5) corresponds to the different variables of the ER uid-assisted polishing process. The logarithmic transformation of Eqs. (2) and (3) are given by ln De Z ln a0 C a1 ln U C a2 ln nt C a3 ln nw C a4 ln h C a5 ln T Z ln a0 C and ln Ry Z ln g0 C g1 ln U C g2 ln nt C g3 ln nw C g4 ln h C g5 ln T Z ln g0 C
5 X iZ1 5 X iZ1

l i xi

(11)

ai ln Zi

gi ln Zi

g0

Let Y1 Z ln De Y2 Z ln Ry X01 Z ln a0 X02 Z ln Xi Z ln Zi , then the empirical models given by

The coefcients hi and li (iZ0,1,2,3,4,5) in Eqs. (10) and (11) can be determined by the proper design of experiments and the multi-variable linear regression analysis. The experiments of ER uid-assisted polishing are conducted on an ultra-precision machine tool (model ULG-40A) manufactured by Toshiba Machine Co. Ltd, Japan. The needle-like electrode employed as the tool is a tungsten carbide rod of 1 mm in diameter with a tip ground to approximately 250 mm in diameter. The workpiece material is tungsten carbide and the size of the workpiece is 4 mm in diameter. The surface of the workpiece is ground at for simplicity and the roughness of the ground surface is approximately 100 nm Ry prior to the polishing experiments. The ER uid employed in the experiments is a particle-type ER uid manufactured by Bridgestone (BA-1). The ultra-ne abrasive particles mixed with the ER uid are diamond (SD) with the average diameter 1 mm. The tool and the workpiece are xed, respectively, into the collets of the ultra-precision aerostatic spindles which have the built-in motors with an insulated copper rod inserted in the center to allow application of a voltage to the electrorheological uid

1464 Table 1 Levels of process parameters

L. Zhang et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 45 (2005) 14611467 Table 3 Regression coefcients for Eq. (10) Zero level (At 0) 1.7 316 335 4.5 2.2 Lower level (At K1) 1 100 150 2 1 h0 4.8095 h1 0.0512 h2 0.0863 h3 0.1302 h4 0.4368 h5 0.5082

Parameter Voltage U (V) Rotational speed of the tool nt (rpm) Rotational speed of the workpiece nw (rpm) Mixing ratio h (wt %) Machining time T (min)

Higher level (At C1) 3 1000 750 10 5

added to the gap between the tool and the workpiece. The voltage is applied from the center of the rear of the spindle via a slip ring. The tool and workpiece mounting are tted using ceramic plates for insulation from the body of the machine. The tool and workpiece spindles are mounted on the adjustable ultra-high precision VV roller guides, allowing the distance between the tool tip and the workpiece surface to be adjusted precisely. In the polishing experiments, the gap between the tool tip and the workpiece surface is kept at 1 mm. The resultant velocity in the polishing area depends only on the rotational speed of the tool and that of the workpiece because the distance between the axis of tool tip and the axis of the workpiece is also kept constant in the polishing experiments (Fig. 1.). The maximum depth of material removal and the surface roughness are measured on a laser non-contact 3D measuring machine (model NH-3T) manufactured by Mitaka Optical Instrument Co. Ltd, Japan. The process parameters are summarized along with their levels in Table 1. A Taguchis L16 (215) orthogonal array is employed to design the experiments. The design of experiments is summarized in Table 2. Instead of following the order of the experimental settings, the actual test runs with three replicates are conducted in a random sequence so
Table 2 Design of experiments Test no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 U (V) 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 nt (rpm) 1000 1000 1000 1000 100 100 100 100 1000 1000 1000 1000 100 100 100 100 nw (rpm) 750 750 150 150 750 750 150 150 750 750 150 150 750 750 150 150 h (wt %) 10 2 10 2 10 2 10 2 10 2 10 2 10 2 10 2 T (min) 5 1 1 5 1 5 5 1 1 5 5 1 5 1 1 5

as to eliminate any systematic bias in the resulting data due to environmental factors. The experimental data obtained from the measurements of the maximum depth of material removal and the roughness of the polished surfaces are analyzed using MATLAB following the procedures as described in [14]. The coefcients in Eqs. (10) and (11) are obtained and listed in Table 3 and Table 4, respectively. These coefcients are each tested for their signicance by the F-test and the results of F-test show that they are signicant at a higher condence level (R95%). Substituting the coefcients with their values in Eqs. (10) and (11) yields y1 Z 4:8095 C 0:0512x1 C 0:0863x2 C 0:1302x3 C 0:4368x4 C 0:5082x5 y2 Z 3:9569 K 0:042x1 K 0:0016x2 K 0:0156x3 K 0:0953x4 K 0:195x5 (13) (12)

The analysis of variance of Eqs. (12) and (13) is carried out and the analytical results indicate that Eqs. (12) and (13) are highly adequate and lack of t are statistically insignicant. According to Table 1, substituting Eqs. (8) and (9) into Eqs. (12) and (13) gives Y1 Z 4:5644 C 0:093X1 C 0:075X2 C 0:1618X3 C 0:5428X4 C 0:6315X5 and Y2 Z 3:9466 K 0:0765X1 K 0:0014X2 K 0:0194X3 K 0:1184X4 K 0:2423X5 i.e. ln De Z ln 96 C 0:093ln U C 0:075ln nt C 0:1618ln nw C 0:5428ln h C 0:6315ln T and ln Ry Z ln 51:76 K 0:0765ln U K 0:0014ln nt K 0:0194ln nw K 0:1184ln h K 0:2423ln T
Table 4 Regression coefcients for Eq. (11) l0 3.9569 l1 K0.042 l2 K0.0016 l3 K0.0156 l4 K0.0953 l5 K0.195

(14)

(15)

(16)

(17)

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Fig. 3. Simulated (solid line) and experimental (symbol) results for the maximum depth of material removal and surface roughness vs. voltage. ntZ1000 rpm, nwZ750 rpm, TZ5 min, B, hZ2 wt %, ,, hZ6 wt %, D, hZ10 wt %.

Eqs. (16) and (17) can be expressed as De

:075 0:1618 0:5428 0:6315 nw h T Z 96U 0:093 n0 t

(18) (19)

Ry Z

51:76 :0014 0:0194 0:1184 0:2423 n h T U 0:0765 n0 w t

Eqs. (18) and (19) are the empirical models for the maximum depth of material removal and the surface roughness obtained by ER uid-assisted polishing.

4. Experiments and discussion Experiments were conducted to conrm the validity of the empirical model developed in this paper. In the conrmation experiments, the machine tool, the tool

electrode, the workpiece, the ER uid, the abrasive particles and the measurement machine were the same as used in section 3. The measured and simulated maximum depth of material removal and surface roughness corresponding to various process parameters are shown in Figs. 36. The polishing conditions are listed below each gure. The solid curves indicate the simulated maximum depth of material removal and surface roughness. The solid curves presented from the bottom to the top in Fig. 3(a), Fig. 4(a), Fig. 5(a) and Fig. 6(a) correspond to the mixing ratios of 2 wt%, 6 wt% and 10 wt%, respectively. And the solid curves presented from the top to the bottom in Fig. 3(b), Fig. 4(b), Fig. 5(b) and Fig. 6(b) correspond to the mixing ratios of 2 wt%, 6 wt% and 10 wt%, respectively. As shown in Figs. 36, the maximum depth of material removal increases with the increasing of the applied voltage, the rotational

Fig. 4. Simulated (solid line) and experimental (symbol) results for the maximum depth of material removal and surface roughness vs. rotational speed of the tool. UZ3 V, nwZ150 rpm, TZ1 min, B, hZ2 wt %, ,, hZ6 wt %, D, hZ10 wt %.

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Fig. 5. Simulated (solid line) and experimental (symbol) results for the maximum depth of material removal and surface roughness vs. rotational speed of the workpiece. UZ3 V, ntZ100 rpm, TZ5 min, B, hZ2 wt %, ,, hZ6 wt %, D, hZ10 wt %.

speed of the tool, the rotational speed of the workpiece and the machining time. The surface roughness decreases with the increasing of the applied voltage and the machining time. But the rotational speed of the tool and the rotational speed of the workpiece have little inuence on the surface roughness. According to the denition of h (Eq. (1)), when the weight of the ER uid is the same, the amount of the abrasive particles mixed into the ER uid increases with the increasing of mixing ratio h. In Figs. 36, when the mixing ratio is greater, the larger amount of abrasive particles are engaged in the polishing process, resulting in a deeper maximum depth of material removal and a lower surface roughness. According to Figs. 36, it can be seen that the predicted maximum depth of material removal and surface

roughness agree well with the measured ones. Thus, the validity of the developed empirical models for the prediction of the maximum depth of material removal and surface roughness in ER uid-assisted polishing is conrmed by the experiments.

5. Conclusions This paper investigates the ER uid-assisted polishing for tungsten carbide. Based on the proper design of experiments according to Taguchi orthogonal array and multi-variable linear regression, empirical models were developed to evaluate the effect of process parameters on

Fig. 6. Simulated (solid line) and experimental (symbol) results for the maximum depth of material removal and surface roughness vs. machining time. UZ1 V, ntZ100 rpm, nwZ150 rpm, B, hZ2 wt %, ,, hZ6 wt %, D, hZ10 wt %.

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the maximum depth of material removal and surface roughness in ER uid-assisted polishing. The F-tests and the analysis of variance show that the developed models are highly adequate and lack of t are statistically insignicant. Experiments of ER uid-assisted polishing for the tungsten carbide workpiece were performed. The changes of the maximum depth of material removal and surface roughness with the varying process parameters are revealed. According to the empirical models and the experiments, the maximum depth of material removal is proportional to (voltage)0.093, (rotational speed of the tool)0.075, (rotational speed of the workpiece)0.1618, (mixing ratio)0.5428 and (machining time)0.6315; the surface roughness is inversely proportional to (voltage)0.0765, (rotational speed of the tool)0.0014, (rotational speed of the workpiece)0.0194, (mixing ratio)0.1184 and (machining time)0.2423. The measured maximum depth of material removal and surface roughness are consistent with the theoretical predictions by the empirical models, which conrms the validity of the developed statistical models for the prediction and process optimization of ER uid-assisted polishing.

Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge the nancial support for this investigation from COE program of Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

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