The Korean Society for Precision Engineering
(Ed.)
Single-crystal sapphire is used in various fields in the industry due to its superior mechanical, optical, and chemical properties, but fabricating sapphire is challenging because of its high hardness and brittleness. Ultra-Precision Machining (UPM) has been studied as one of the solutions to overcome this issue as it is able to cut brittle ceramics in a ductile mode. However, the mechanism of material removal behavior during UPM of single-crystal sapphire is not fully understood yet. This paper studies the crack initiation mechanism of single-crystal sapphire during ultra-precision machining with relation to the crystallographic properties of sapphire and various process parameters. By reflecting given stress distribution calculations from molecular dynamics simulation to a slip/fracture activation model, the likelihood of shearing and opening of crystal planes is calculated, and how they affect crack generation is studied. Based on the results, mechanisms of crack initiation are identified. Ultra-precision orthogonal plunge cut experiments are conducted on single-crystal sapphire with various crystallographic orientations and process parameters on an ultra-precision CNC machine. The identified mechanism is verified with the observed material removal behavior in experiments and analyzed results.
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