Micro-grooving of brittle materials using textured diamond grinding wheels shaped by an integrated nanosecond laser system

Freeform surfaces including both the aspherical and prismatic concave/convex have been widely utilized in optical, electronical, and biomedical areas. Most recently, it is reported that grinding with structured wheels provides new possibility to generate patterns on hard and brittle materials. This paper reports the latest research progress on micro-grooving glass ceramic using laser structured diamond grinding wheels. A nanosecond pulse laser is firstly integrated into an ultra-precision machine tool and used for the in-line conditioning of super abrasive grinding wheels, i.e., truing, dressing, and profiling/texturing. Meanwhile, an offset compensation method, considering the shifting depth of focus (DoF) at different laser irradiation positions, is proposed to accurately generate various profiles on the periphery of the grinding wheels. Three types of patterns (riblets, grooves, and pillars) are successfully fabricated on the ceramic substrate using the laser textured grinding wheels. The results indicate that the integrated laser system offers high flexibility and accuracy in shaping super abrasive grinding wheels, and the grinding using textured grinding wheels provides a promising solution to generate functional microstructures on hard and brittle materials.