Title: A review of grinding technologies for glass machining

Authors: Xianwu Zeng; Yong X. Gan

Addresses: Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA. ' Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA

Abstract: In this paper, a brief review of glass grinding is made. First, the properties of various glasses are introduced. Grinding technique is defined. Then the mechanisms of materials removal from glasses are presented. Then, ultra-precision grinding of glasses is described. We also discuss the relatively new grinding technology of electrolytic in-process dressing (ELID) for glass machining. For glasses which are hard and brittle, the coarse grinding should be controlled under ductile mode as much as possible so that the ground surfaces could be damage-free. Ultra-precision grinding for glass is really the right direction to obtain high quality surfaces because a subsequent lapping or polishing procedure is not required. ELID grinding is a self-sharpening process. It can grind glasses efficiently with high precision.

Keywords: ductile mode; ultra-precision grinding; electrolytic in-process dressing; ELID; self-sharpening; glass machining.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAT.2011.042830

International Journal of Abrasive Technology, 2011 Vol.4 No.3, pp.223 - 239

Received: 28 Jun 2011
Accepted: 02 Jul 2011
Published online: 30 Sep 2014 *

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