MIRROR SURFACE GRINDING CHARACTERISTICS AND MECHANISM OF CARBON-FIBER-REINFORCED PLASTICS

Abstract

In this work, the mirror-surface grinding of carbon-fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) was realized using a micro grain metal bonded diamond wheel with electrolytic in-process dressing (ELID). The surface roughnesses R(max) of the CFRP that were obtained with a #6,000 wheel were up to 0.65 mu m, and thus were rougher surface finishs compared to those of hard and brittle materials ground with the same mesh number wheel with ELID. The grinding performance was much dependent on the grinding direction and the best surface roughness was obtained when at 90 degrees grinding with the fiber direction, The spark-out effect on the surface improvement was significant when mirror surface grinding was performed. From surface observations of the CFRP with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), it was found that the mirror surface grinding of CFRP was generated by the homogenization due to carbonization of the ground surface and smearing of chips composed of the carbon fiber and carbonized epoxy resin into the ground surface.