The objective of this project is to take key insights from grinding and polishing, and create a novel Chemical Mechanical Paired Grinding technology that combines the strengths of fixed abrasive grinding with those of free abrasive polishing, while avoiding their weaknesses. This is achieved by combining a key weakness avoidance insight from grinding, namely defect mitigation via minimization of maximum force per grit, with two strength enhancement insights from polishing, effective planarization via profile-driven determination of force gradient and robustness via homogenization. The resulting entity is embodied in a chemical mechanical paired grinding machine that will be designed and built in this project.
Currently, relatively expensive free-abrasive polishing is the process of choice when surface quality and integrity are of primary concern, while fixed abrasive grinding with lower surface quality and integrity is used if cost is the primary design driver. If successful, chemical mechanical paired grinding will obviate this trade-off by delivering the product quality of polishing at a cost of operation for grinding. It will also introduce a new technique for combining strengths and avoiding weaknesses in hybrid process design. Educational activities will include infusion of research insights into graduate and undergraduate courses in design and manufacturing, and providing lab internships to undergraduate students where the resulting chemical mechanical paired grinding machine will be used as a teaching aid in hybrid process design. Recruitment of under-represented women and minority students will be facilitated by leveraging existing programs at Iowa State University and exchange programs with other universities.
