Formation of subsurface cracks in silicon wafers by grinding

Single-crystal silicon is an important material in the semiconductor and optical industries.However,being hard and brittle,a silicon wafer is vulnerable to subsurface cracks(SSCs)during grinding,which is detrimental to the performance and lifetime of a wafer product.Therefore,studying the formation of SSCs is important for optimizing SSC-removal processes and thus improving surface integrity.In this study,a statistical method is used to study the formation of SSCs induced during grinding of silicon wafers.The statistical results show that grinding-induced SSCs are not stochastic but anisotropic in their distributions.Generally,when grinding with coarse abrasive grains,SSCs form along the cleavage planes,primarily the{111}planes.However,when grinding with finer abrasive grains,SSCs tend to form along planes with a fracture-surface energy higher than that of the cleavage planes.These findings provide a guidance for the accurate detection of SSCs in ground silicon wafers.

The‘skin effect’of subsurface damage distribution in materials subjected to high-speed machining

This paper proposes the‘skin effect’of the machining-induced damage at high strain rates.The paper first reviews the published research work on machining-induced damage and then identifies the governing factors that dominate damage formation mechanisms.Among many influential factors,such as stress-strain field,temperature field,material responses to loading and loading rate,and crack initiation and propagation,strain rate is recognized as a dominant factor that can directly lead to the‘skin effect’of material damage in a loading process.The paper elucidates that material deformation at high strain rates(>103 s−1)leads to the embrittlement,which in turn contributes to the‘skin effect’of subsurface damage.The paper discusses the‘skin effect’based on the principles of dislocation kinetics and crack initiation and propagation.It provides guidance to predicting the material deformation and damage at a high strain-rate for applications ranging from the armor protection,quarrying,petroleum drilling,and high-speed machining of engineering materials(e.g.ceramics and SiC reinforced aluminum alloys).

High-performance grinding of ceramic matrix composites

Ceramic matrix composites(CMCs)are highly promising materials for the next generation of aero-engines.However,machining of CMCs suffers from low efficiency and poor surfacefinish,which presents an obstacle to their wider application.To overcome these problems,this study investigates high-efficiency deep grinding of CMCs,focusing on the effects of grinding depth.The results show that both the sur-face roughness and the depth of subsurface damage(SSD)are insensitive to grinding depth.The material removal rate can be increased sixfold by increasing the grinding depth,while the surface roughness and SSD depth increase by only about 10%.Moreover,it is found that the behavior of material removal is strongly dependent on grinding depth.As the grinding depth is increased,fibers are removed in smaller sizes,with thefiber length in chips being reduced by about 34%.However,too large a grinding depth will result in blockage by chip powder,which leads to a dramatic increase in the ratio of tangential to normal grinding forces.This study demonstrates that increasing the depth of cut is an effective approach to improve the machining efficiency of CMCs,while maintaining a good surfacefin-ish.It provides the basis for the further development of high-performance grinding methods for CMCs,which should facilitate their wider application.

Influence of alumina abrasive tool wear on ground surface characteristics and corrosion properties of K444 nickel-based superalloy

K444 nickel-based superalloy is an important material to manufacture the gas turbine due to its excellent mechanical properties at high temperatures and corrosion resistance.Currently,grinding is the mostly used method for the surface finish of the K444 alloy components.However,few studies worked on the effects of the abrasive tool wear on the ground surface characteristics and corrosion properties of K444 alloy.This study uses two different-type alumina abrasive tools,i.e.,white alumina(WA)and microcrystalline alumina(MA)wheels,to grind the K444 alloy.The influence of the alumina abrasive tool wear on ground surface characteristics and corrosion resistance performance are investigated.It is discovered that the MA wheel presents a slighter wheel wear and higher self-sharpening than the WA wheel.Compared to the WA wheel,the MA wheel has less material adhesion,which leads to a better surface finish.In the corrosion testing,the maximum corrosion depth is 80μm in the surface ground by the MA wheel but 100μm in the surface ground by the WA wheel,which demonstrates that the MA wheel grinding benefits the surface corrosion resistance of K444 alloy.Therefore,this study could provide a guide to selecting the abrasive tools and optimizing the grinding process of the K444 alloy.