Lapplng of Slngle Crystal Dlamond Tools

Z.J. Yuan (1). Y X Y a o , M. Zhou, Q.S. Bal

Dept. of Mechanlcal Englneerlng, Hahln lnstttute of Technology, Harbln, 150001, Chlna

Abstract
Lapplng Is the key technology used In manufadurlng pr#ess of dlamond tools and dlamond jewels. Because
of the strong anlsotroplsm and super hardness of dlamond. the materlal removal rate Is very small In tts
Iapplng process. The Influence of the crystal anlsotroplsm on removal rate In dlamond lapplng Is dlscussed In
thls paper. A new dlamond crystal orlentatlon method by uslng laser dHTradlon Is preserted, whlch can not only
be used for the crystal orlentatlon, but also for the Indlcatlon of 'son' d t e d b n s on crystal planes In Iapplng. The
mechanlsm of removal rate anlsotroplsm In dlamond Iapplng Is Invesllgded, and a new explanatlon for the
reasons Is proposed. It Is polnted out that the varkitlon of lncllnatlon angle between lnslde (111) plane
(cleavage plane) and Iapplng surface causes the dlllerence of Mdlon coemclent and removal rate In dlamond
Iapplng. Furthermore, a new method uslng uttrasonlc vlbratlon fw dlamond Iapplng w a s developed to Improve
the removal rate.

Keywords:
Dlamond, Lapplng, Crystal plane

1 INTRODUCTION
Slngle crystal dlamond Is the Ideal tool materlal used In
ultra-preclslon machlnlng [I].Lapphg Is the key
technology used In manufadurlng of dlamond tools and
dlamond jewels. Because of the super hardness and hlgh
wear resistance [2,3],the removal rate of dlamond In
Iapplng 1s very small. Furthermore, the strong anlsotroplsm
of slngle crystal dlamond leads to the varlatlons of removal
rate and lapped surface Rnlsh not only In dlllerent
Lapphg dlredlon
crystallographlc plmes, but also In dlllerent dlredlons of
the same crystal plane [2,3].These are so called 'soR' and Flgure 1: The adsotroplsm of abraslon rate In Iapplng m.
'hard' dlredlons of dlamond In lapplng. In the (100) plane Is the next, and In the (111) plane Is the
smallest. The comparlson of thelr removal rate Is that:
For hlgh emclency In dlamond hpphg, tt Is necessary to
orlentate the crystal planes of dlamond crystal and to Rnd (110) plane : (100) plane : (111) plane = 12.8 : 5.8 : 1
out the 'son' dlredlon. And also tt Is quite Important to Usually, the following symbols are used to represent the
lnvestlgde the mechanlsm of mderlal removal In dlamond dlamond crystal planes: square represents the (100) phne,
Iapplng process. Qutte Important work has been done In trlangle represents the (111) plane and rhomblc represents
orlentatlon of dlamond crystal planes and lndlcatlon of the the (110) plane. Flgure 2 shows the symbols hdlcatlng the
'son' and 'hiwd' dlredlons on the crystal planes [4,5]. In dlamond crystal planes and thelr 'son' and 'hard' dlredlons
explanatlon of the removal rate anlsotroplsm In dlamond for Iapplng experlments.
Iapplng, F. B o w e l e n proposed a perlodc bond chaln
(PBC) model [6]. Further studles are stlll needed for the
deeper undershndlng of anlsotroplsm mechnlsm In
removal rate, and cost -elTective appllcatlon of crystal
orlentatlon technlques.
The work here Is focused on the lnvestlgatlon of crystal
anlsotroplsm of removal rate In dlamond Iapplng, the way
to Improve the removal rates and development of a cost
-
a) (100) plane b) (111) plane c) (110) plane
'Son' dlredlon, 'Hard' dlredlon
1-----

Flgure 2: Symbols representlng crystal planes of dhmond.

-elTedhe crystal orlentatlon method by laser dtWradlon.
2.2 Atomic structure of dlamond cryrtal
2 THE AMSOTROPISM OF SINGLE CRYSTAL DMerent theorles have been used to explaln the
DIAMOND IN LAPPING anlsotroplsm of dlamond crystal [2,3,6]. In fad, the
anlsotroplsm resub from the atomlc structure of dlamond
2.1 The anlsotroplsrn of removal rate In dlamond
crystal that should be examlned.
lapping
Accordlng to the crystallography, the denslty of C-atoms
As mentlmed above, the removal rate In dlamond Iapplng
and the density of covalent bonds between C-atoms In
and the lapped surface Rnlsh of dlamond are dMerent for v d o u s crystal planes of dlamond can be shorm In T k l e 1.
varlous crystal planes and varlous dlredlons on the same
crystal plane. Flgure 1 shows the experlmental resutts of To remove C-atoms from the surface of dlamond In lapplng,
anlsotroplsm of the removal rate In dlamond Iapplny m. It the covalent bonds between C-atoms must be broken
down. The smaller the denslty of covalent bonds, the
can be noted that there are four peaks and four valleys In
the removal rate cuwe of (100) plane, two In the cuwe of easler the Iapplng of crystal plane. Table 1 shows that the
(110) plane, and three In the cuwe of (111) plane. The relative density of thelr covalent bonds Is that:
peaks of the cuwe Indlcate the 'soR' dlredlons, and the (110) plane : (100) plane : (111) plane = 1.22 : 1.73 : 3
valleys of the cuwe lndlcate the 'hard' dlredlons In It means that the (110) plane Is the easlest for lapplng, the
dlamond lapplng. Comparlng the helghl of the peaks ('soR' (100) plane Is the next, and the (111) plane Is the hiwdest.
dlredlon), the removal rate In the (110) plane Is the largest, The resutts of r e l a t h removal rate of these crystal planes
 and lapping surface of d a m n d has great effects on the
4 WCHANISM OF ANITROPISM IN DlAMOND removal rate of lapping process. Figure 10 shrms that the
LAPPING dewage of (111) plane is much easier in mse that
than in case that 0 4 W . The larger the ande 0 (while
4.1 Experimental study by SEM
O > i W j , the easier the rrricrmdemge of (111) plane h k e s
Till nrm, little work has been done to explain the place, which leads to the larger friction coefficient and
mechanism ofthe misobopism in removal rate fw different

- -
higher removal rate.
plane in d a m n d lapping, especially to explin why
lapping removal rate is dKerent in various lapping Lapplng dlredlon Lapplng dlredlon
drections of the same crystal plane. To do it and to shrm
the relationship between the diffraction image and surface
micro&ucture of c-l plan- SEM images of lapped
damond surfaces with dfferent #y&d planes were taken
as shown in Figure 8. The micro&uchrre and unit #y&d
/*kl:d
(111) plane
*.

(111) plane
surface
Diamond

gins of dfferent crystal planes are visible frm the SEM a) m o a b) 8 4 0 "
images. It shows that the unit crystal gins of (1M)) plane Flgure 10: Influence of 8 In lapplng process.
are in the square fwm, (111) plane in the triande fwm and
4.4 The lndlndlon anae 0 whlle lapplng dfWent
(110) plane in the prism fwm.
plane
Figure l l a shows the 'soit' drection and indination angle 0
in lapping (1M)) plane of diamond. There are two seds of
(111) p l ~ n e in ~the 'soit' direction on (100) surface. The
inclination andes 0 between the inside (111) p l ~ n and e~
the lapped (100) surface are that: 01m = 125.27" and 0 i m
= -125.27". M i l e lapping in o p p d e drection, 0 i m
ch~ngesfrm -125.27" to 125.27". Hrmever, the oppasite
drection of the 'soit' drection is still 'soit' drection. There
are four 'soit' directions in lapping (100) plane.

a) (1M)) plane b) (111) plane

Figure 8: SEM images of diamond c-1 pl~ne~. (11
The shapes of unit #y&d grains in dfferent cry&al p l ~ n e ~
are related to the removal rates of the planes in d a m n d Diamond Diamond
lapping. In the same #y&d plane, when the lapping surface surface
drection is perpendicular to the stmi@ edges of the unit
cry&al gain, the surface l q e r of d a m n d is easy to be
abraded off (it was proved by the authws' experiments).
This is the r e a m of misobopism of r e m m l rate in
damond lapping. The experiments also show that the
petals of laser d h c t i o n image are pwpendcular to the
straight edges of rrricr~crystalgains. -
a) (100) plane b) (111) plane c) (110) plane
SoR drection, 0 - - - - - Hard direction
Figure 11: 'Soit' and'hard drections of d a m n d .
4.2 Mechhanlsm of mlwa-breakage on swface layer
The rrricrmbedage process of diamond in surface l q e r M i l e lapping (111) plane as shown in Figure l i b , there is
has been investigated in the test of N. I k m a [El. By H w k only one seb of (111) p l ~ n ine ~the 'soit' direction on the
te* when the tested d a m n d is over-loaded by a (111) surface. The inclination ande between the inside
damond neade, m d r s appear in diamond (Figure 9). It (111) planes and the lapped (111) surface is that 0111 =
was observed that all the cracks are around the wter 109.5". M i l e lapping in the oppasite drection, the
arde of conhct area, and p a l l e l to the (111) plane of inclination angle 0111 changes from 109.5" to - 1 0 9 3 , so
damond. It ~ M that S the rrricrmbedage of d a m n d is the surface l q e r of diamond is dffiwlt to be a h d e d off.
mused by the dewage fimilure of (111) plane. In lapping This is why in lapping (111) plane the opposite drection of
process, the m i c m b d a g e and removal of the surface the 'soit' direction is the 'hard' drection. It shwld be
l q e r are similar to that in the Herk test. noticed that the opposite drection of the 'soit' direction is
also 'soit' direction while lapping other crystal planes.
, waht * There are three 'soit' directions in lapping (111) plane.
As shown in Figure 11c, there are two seds of (111) planes
Hertz crack in the 'soit' direction on the (110) surface while lapping
(110) plane. The indination andes bedwean the inside (111)
planes andthe lapped (110) surface arethat 011o = 144.73"
Figure 9: Herb test of d a m n d and 0'11o = -144.73". The opposite drection of the 'soit'
drection is also 'soit' drection. There are two 'soit'
4.3 Mcmdeavage on the lapped swface layer drections in lapping (110) plane.
In the authw's experiments, both the lapping lines and 4.5 Comparison of removal rate whlle lapplng
dewage lines of (111) plane are oiten visible on the difTerent wystd planes
lapped surface of d a m n d . The drection of the cleavage By the thewetical analysis above, the relative removal
lines doesn't change with the lapping direction. It proves rates in lapping different cry&d planes of damond mn be
that in d a m n d lapping, the surface l q e r of diamond is c o w r e d as follrms in the mse that lapped drections are
abraded off due to the micmdewage along (111) plane. all in their 'soit' drections on the lap@ planes:
The inclination ande 0 betwean the cleavage planes (111)
ello = 144.73-, B , =~125.27',
~ elll = 109.5-
Then
ello > B , >Bill
~ ~
From the above i n i i y l s . the sort order olMdlon coemdents
In Iapplng the three typlcal dlamond planes Is that:
(110) plane > (100) plane > (111) plane
Slmllarty, the sort order of removal rate In Iapplng the three
] . . . . . . . IS 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
typlcal dlamond planes Is that: Vlbratlon amplitude (pm)
*
(110) plane > (100) plane (111) plane Flgure 14: Removal rate VS vlbratlon amplitude.
The theoretlcal anatysls has a good agreement wlth the
experlmental results. 6 CONCLUSION
Dlamond crystd has strong anlsotroplsm of removal rate
5 DIAMOND LAPPING WITH ULTRASONIC
In its Iapplng process, whlch Is a consequence o f the
VIBRATION
dlnerent denslty of covalent bond between C-atoms In
5.1 Apparatus and condltlons for dlamond lapplng varlous cryital planes. The change of Mdlon coeWklents
wlth ubasonlc vlbratlon Ath dWerenl crystal planes and dWerenl lapplng dlredlons
Is conslstent w t h the removal rate of dlamond durlng
Even In 'son' dlrectlon, the removal rate In dlamond
Iapplng Is very low [9]. To h p r o v e it, an uitrasonlc vlbratlon I q p l n g process.
method for dlamond Iapplng was developed [lo]. Flgure Because of the anlsotroplsm of removal rate In its Iapplng
12 shows the prlnclple of the method and its apparatus. process, the crystal orlentatlon Is necessmy and hportant
The vlbratlm dlredlon cm be In the dlrectlon, for dlamond Iapplng. A new orlentatlon method for
perpendlcular to the dlredlon w In any mgle to the dlamond crystal by laser dllhadlon Is devebped, M l c h
dlredlon of Iapplng speed. Among them, the removal rate cm not only be used for orlentdlon of dlamond crystal
of lapped dlamond vlbrated In the dlredlon of lapplng planes, but also for lndlcatlon of the 'son' dlredlon of
speed Is the hlghest, whlch proved by the experlments. In cfystal planes.
the Iapplng process, the dlamond Is vlbrated under the In dlamond Iapplng, the surface layer of dlamond Is
frequency of 20kH2 Ath amplitude of 5.3pm In the abraded o f due to the mlcro-cleavage of (Ill]crystal
dlredlon of Iapplng speed, whlle lapped along the 'son' plane. The diTerence of the lncllnatlon angle between (111)
dlredlon on (110) plane. cleavvqe plane and the Iapplng surface causes the
drerence of Mdlon coemclent and removal rate In
dlamond Iapplng. Thls Is the maln reason for anlsotroplsm
of remwal rate In dlamond Iapplng.
An uitrasonlc vlbratlon Iapplng method was developed,
M l c h Improves the removal rate In dlamond lapplng.

Iamond 7 REFERENCES

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