The electromechanical principle of electrorheological fluid-assisted polishing

An up-to-date abrasive polishing process using electrorheological (ER) fluid, known as ER fluid assisted polishing, is potentially useful in the surface finish of three dimensional micro or meso-scale devices. For a more detailed understanding of this process, the electrostatic principle of how an ER fluid functions on the polishing is described. Dielectric particles suspended in a dielectric fluid are polarized with the application of an electric field, and they experience the dipolar interaction force each other and the translational force along the field, defined as dielectrophoresis due to the non-uniform electric field. As a result of the calculations of the exerted forces on the ER and abrasive particle suspended in silicone oil, ER particles strongly attract the abrasive particles as well as each other when they are aligned with the electric field. Because this attraction force is much higher than the dielectrophoretic force, abrasive particles adhere to ER particles which concentrate on a tool along the field lines. The behavior of particles is observed by the CCD camera, and borosilicate glass is polished to evaluate machining performance. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.