DETECTION OF ORIENTATION-DEPENDENT, SINGLE-CRYSTAL DIAMOND TOOL EDGE WEAR USING CUTTING FORCE SENSORS, WHILE SPIN-TURNING SILICON

Eric R. Marsh1 , George A. Kim2 , and James A. Simonson2 1 Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA, USA 2 Edge Technologies, Inc. Indianapolis, IN, USA
Introduction The purpose of this project is to experimentally determine the benets of spin-turning infrared materials known to cause relatively rapid wear of single-crystal, synthetic diamond cutting tools. The testing explores the specic issues of nonuniform workpiece properties (single crystal silicon), non-uniform cutting tool properties, and machining parameters. This work includes a description of a precision spindle-based tool holder that provides high stiffness and accurate rotation for turning optical-grade surfaces. Precision diamond turning of infrared crystals such as silicon is based on the theory that ductile regime machining requires very shallow depths of cut [1, 2]. However, it may be possible to remove material faster and with improved surface nish if compression-strain heating and high pressure phase transformation phenomena are recognized and developed as part of the machining process [3]. Silicons high pressure phase transformation under loading has been shown in a number of nanoindenting, scribing, and cutting experiments [4, 5, 6]. Raman spectroscopy has also been used to demonstrate the occurrence of a high pressure phase transformation in which silicons atomic structure changes from diamond face centered cubic to other, metallic-like phases including -tin [7]. Yan et al. have shown that upon release of the hydrostatic stress of a cutting tool the silicon returns to an amorphous state with more favorable microplasticity [8]. When we seek to reconcile these experiments with the manufacture of infrared optics three signicant obstacles remain. First, it is well known that single point diamond turned surfaces often show three or four-fold regions (sectors) of distressed crystal. Furthermore, the surface nish of the optic often degrades towards the center of the optic, where the cutting velocity is lowest. Finally, silicon causes relatively fast deterioration of diamond cutting tools by both chemical wear and graphitization. It would seem that the three or four-fold sectors of distressed crystal are indicative of brittlefracture machining characteristics interspersed with ductile machining characteristics on the octahedral (111) and cubic (100) crystal planes, respectively. Harder crystals and harder machining directions on those planes require more compression-strain-heating to complete phase transformation in those distressed crystal sectors. We suggest that the phase transformation generated in a turning process is a function of the material removal rate (MRR), set by the turning parameters of cutting velocity; feed rate and depth of cut; and rake angle and the crystals material properties. Higher MRR and negative rake angles generate more energy in the uncut chip region for phase transformation to occur. As the center of the optic is approached the MRR goes to zero, ductile machining goes to brittle-fracture machining and surface nish degrades. The challenge is that increased MRR and negative rakes, which enable the desirable phase transformation, also cause the diamond tool edge to get hotter and therefore wear out faster. This is a result of the fcc (diamond) carbon oxidizing and graphitizing at the resulting higher temperatures. The rates of these chemical reactions rise exponentially with the temperature of uncut chip region and turning conditions. Flood cooling is recommended, and water, with ten times the heat carrying capacity, may be preferred over oil. This work seeks to make use of the phase transformation in the uncut chip region while avoiding

Spin turn spindle

Diamond tool Si workpiece

2 axis diamond turning lathe

Work spindle

FIGURE 1. Machine conguration for spin turning silicon optics. The tool spindle is rotated 125 from the work spindle and the tool has an additional 10 crown for a total effective rake angle of -45 .

the rapid degradation of the diamond tool by constantly providing a fresh cutting edge. This is achieved with a spin-turning mechanism, similar in concept to Shaws rotary cutting tool, originally proposed in 1952 and later revisited by several others [9, 10, 11]. Spin turning with diamond cutting tools Figure 1 shows one implementation of spin turning with diamond tools. This conguration is particularly helpful in establishing the negative tool rakes used in turning brittle materials. The workpiece will rotate in the usual range of speeds, which is dictated by workpiece size, material, and geometry. The cutting tool will generally rotate at a much lower speed, or even remain stationary with occasional brief indexes in angular position. It is clear that the spin turn spindle and tool face challenging geometric constraints in order to maintain accurate form in the nished workpiece. Both tool eccentricity as well as spindle error motion will lead to workpiece errors, unless explicitly mapped out using careful metrology. These challenges led to Ezugwus comments summarizing the challenge of cutting with rotary tools [12]: likelihood of errors in prole likelihood of chatter due to large tool radius and reduced stiffness difculty of producing stepped components. These concerns are addressed in the work that follows so that silicon and other brittle materials may be machined with single point diamond tools. Although the spin turning approach is not likely to match the accuracy of turning with stationary tools, the avoidance of accelerated wear in aggressive materials such as silicon will justify its use in many demanding applications. Errors in prole result from three sources of geometric error. The rst is eccentricity in the cutting tool, which may originate in the mounting of the tool on the toolholder, or the toolholder on the spin turning spindle. Second, the cutting tool may not be round, which will lead to a mapping of tool shape errors in the workpiece. In general, the sharpening of the edge of a diamond is a challenging task that is further frustrated by anisotropy of the single crystal. Finally, error motion in the spin turning spindle will lead to undesired motion of the cutting tool with respect to the workpiece.
Radial error motion over on revolution (at cutting tool): 0.33 micrometers

0.250

0.250 m

FIGURE 2. Spindle error motion over one complete revolution. These three error sources may be mitigated by a combination of careful engineering and CNC compensation. In our approach, the diamond tools are sharpened on interchangeable spindles that are used for both tool prep and the actual cutting. Once sharpened, the tool remains on the spindle so that the eccentricity of the cutting edge is automatically minimized. Alternatively, the cutting tool could be carefully centered on a spinturning spindle using an indicating band with any remaining eccentricity programmed into the CNC controller for compensation. The anisotropy of diamond leads to some out-ofroundness during the sharpening of the cutting edge. In the work shown here, the cutting edge is prepared with a chemo-mechanical process that minimizes, but does not completely eliminate this effect. We chose not to map this error out because of the difculty of adequate characterizing the tool edge prole error, although this has been successfully demonstrated. The spindle error motion and compliance presents the nal challenge to maintain workpiece form accuracy. In the work shown here, two different spin turning spindles were used. The rst was an air bearing spindle with error motion of less than 25 nm in the sensitive direction. This spindle is so good that the error motion is virtually negligible. Like any tool holder, there will be some deection due to compliance in the spin turning structure, which will tend to change as the tool encounters the angle-dependent hardness of the rotating silicon workpiece. In a second round of

testing, a tapered roller bearing spindle was used to achieve much higher stiffness, but with 100 nm of error motion in the sensitive direction. The tapered roller bearing spindles error motion is repeatable and mappable, provided that the spindle rotations are accounted for and reset between cuts. No attempt was made to perform this mapping in this preliminary work. Experimental setup The remainder of this work describes cutting experiments that compare silicon turning with stationary and spinning tools. coolant spindle speed feed depth of cut workpiece deionized water 1000 RPM 1 micrometers/rev 5 micrometers (100) Si

[4] Leung TP, Lee WB, Lu XM. Diamond turning of silicon substrates in ductile-regime. Journal of Materials Processing Technology. 1998;73(1-3):4248. [5] Pharr GM, Oliver WC, Clarke DR. Mechanical behavior of silicon during small-scale indentation. Journal of Electronic Materials. 1990;19(9):881887. [6] Vodenitcharova T, Zhang LC. A mechanics prediction of the behaviour of monocrystalline silicon under nano-indentation. International Journal of Solids and Structures. 2003;40(12):29892998. [7] Kovalchenko A, Gogotsi Y, Domnich V, Erdemir A. Phase transformations in silicon under dry and lubricated sliding. Tribology Transactions. 2002;45(3):372380. [8] Yan J, Takahashi H, Tamaki J, Gai X, Harada H, Patten J. Nanoindentation tests on diamond-machined silicon wafers. Applied Physics Letters. 2005;86(18):181913. [9] Shaw MC, Smith PA, Cook NH. Rotary cutting tool. American Society of Mechanical Engineers Transactions. 1952;74(6):1065 1073. [10] Kishawy HA, Wilcox J. Tool wear and chip formation during hard turning with selfpropelled rotary tools. International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture. 2003;43(4):433439. [11] Li L, Kishawy HA. A model for cutting forces generated during machining with selfpropelled rotary tools. International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture. 2006;46(12-13):13881394. [12] Ezugwu EO, Bonney J, Yamane Y. An overview of the machinability of aeroengine alloys. Journal of Materials Processing Technology. 2003;134(2):233253. [13] Rozzi JC, Pfefferkorn FE, Shin YC, Incropera FP. Experimental Evaluation of the Laser Assisted Machining of Silicon Nitride Ceramics. Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering. 2000;122(4):666670.

Ongoing work The spin turning concept is expected to be wellsuited to laser-assisted diamond turning. Laser heating of the uncut chip region greatly improves ductility of the chip with the unfortunate side effect of enhancing oxidation and graphitization of the diamond cutting edge [13]. Given that spin turning likely reduces spot-heating and prolongs edge life, they appear to be naturally suited for each other. A next step is research to apply the spin turning method to rough-machining a difcult material such as silicon carbide mirrors. REFERENCES [1] Bifano T, Dow T, Scattergood R. Ductileregime grinding of brittle materials: experimental results and development of a model. In: Proceedings of the SPIE: Advances in Fabrication and Metrology for Optics and Large Optics. vol. 966; 1988. p. 108115. [2] Blaedel K, Taylor J, Evans C. DuctileRegime Grinding of Brittle Materials. In: Jahanmir S, editor. Machining of Ceramics and Composites. Marcel Dekker; 1999. p. 139 176. [3] Abdel-Aal HA, Reyes Y, Patten JA, Dong L. Extending electrical resistivity measurements in micro-scratching of silicon to determine thermal conductivity of the metallic phase Si-II. Materials Characterization. 2006;57(4-5):281289.