Finishing complex surfaces with zonal polishing tools

This paper shows the results of studies that aimed at shortening the development of a stable and reproducible polishing process for the corrective machining of complex ceramics samples. The main objective is the design of efficient polishing strategies and a successful technology transfer in order to determine stable process conditions and high material removal rates (MRR) for the zonal correction of complex geometries. Our transfer approach was successful by rendering intensive preparatory work on polishing strategies unnecessary and resulted in satisfying overall results with a high and reproducible MRR and surface quality. In terms of the machine parameters, the eccentric frequency shows only a small impact on the profile formation. However, the eccentric radius, the normal force applied and the relative velocity do have an significant impact on the formation of the influence function determining the process efficiency. Our first approach can be used for corrective polishing of zonal form deviations of ceramic samples. The investigations establish the basis to correct form deviations of complex geometries of ceramic samples