Title: Process parameters optimisation for Si₃N₄ in chemical-mechanical polishing via Taguchi technique

Authors: Lin-Lin Wan; Zhao-Hui Deng; Chao-Deng Wang; Wei Liu; Zhi-Jian Liu

Addresses: Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Precision Machining of Difficult-to-Cut Material, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China ' Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Precision Machining of Difficult-to-Cut Material, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China ' National Engineering Research Center for High Efficiency Grinding, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, China ' Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Precision Machining of Difficult-to-Cut Material, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201,China ' Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Precision Machining of Difficult-to-Cut Material, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China

Abstract: By applying chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) technique to high precision processing of rotary curved surface workpieces of silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) ceramic, a CMP experimental device was established on a numerical control (NC) jig grinder. Using Taguchi robust design method, through signal to noise ratios (S/N ratios) and analysis of variance, the influence of slurry concentration, slurry flow rate and polishing wheel speed on surface roughness was analysed. With the increase of polishing wheel speed, the surface roughness Ra increased. The optimal process parameters of CMP on rotary curved surface workpieces of Si₃N₄ ceramic were selected: slurry concentration of 20%, polishing wheel speed of 6,000 r/min, and slurry flow rate of 0.6 L/min. The result showed that the descending order of selected process parameters impacting on surface roughness was polishing wheel speed, slurry flow rate and slurry concentration.

Keywords: chemical-mechanical polishing; CMP; rotary curved surfaces; parameter optimisation; Taguchi methods; silicon nitride; Si3N4; process parameters; robust design; signal to noise ratio; SNR; analysis of variance; ANOVA; slurry concentration; slurry flow rate; polishing wheel speed; surface roughness; surface quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNM.2016.077059

International Journal of Nanomanufacturing, 2016 Vol.12 No.2, pp.143 - 153

Received: 05 Nov 2015
Accepted: 27 Nov 2015
Published online: 20 Jun 2016 *

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