Machinability improvement of silicon carbide via femtosecond laser surface modification method

In this paper, the laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) of single-crystal SiC and the machining properties of the modified layer are studied. The distribution of surface features as a function of laser repetition frequency and the phase of micro/nanostructures of the surface modification layer are investigated. Furthermore, wear and machinability of the modified SiC layer are analyzed using nano-scratching. The results indicate that surface modification with the femtosecond laser can effectively reduce the pushing and extrusion of material as well as facilitate removal of materials. The hybrid-grinding method can also reduce the influence of the size effect during processing, which effectively improves machinability of SiC during ultra-precision grinding process.