Laser assisted micro grinding of high strength materials

This paper aims to develop a laser assisted grinding process capable of manufacturing micro features in high strength materials. A diode laser with wavelength 808 nm was set on a precision grinding machine. Micro grooves were fabricated on high strength materials including silicon nitride and aluminium oxide by using the laser assisted grinding process, i.e. laser pre-heat workpiece flowed by micro grinding. The experimental results showed that the laser assisted grinding process resulted in deeper grooves due to thermal expansion of workpiece materials caused by laser heating. However, the machined surface roughness was more consistently better than that obtained using solo grinding process and applying coolant. No subsurface damage was observed in the SEM images of cross sections of the machined workpieces when laser assisted grinding process was used.