Date of Award

8-2008

Degree Name

Master of Science in Engineering

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Department

Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. John A. Patten

Second Advisor

Dr. Muralidhar Ghantasala

Third Advisor

Dr. Pnina Ari-Gur

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

Silicon carbide (SiC) and quartz are one of the advanced engineered ceramic materials designed to operate in extreme environments. One of the main reasons for the choice of these materials is due to its excellent electrical, mechanical and optical properties that benefit the semiconductor, MEMS and optoelectronic industry respectively. Manufacturing these materials is extremely challenging due to its high hardness, brittle characteristics and poor machinability. Severe fracture can result when trying to machine SiC and quartz due to its low fracture toughness. However, from past and current research efforts, it has been proven that ductile regime machining of brittle materials is possible. The main goal of the subject research is to improve the surface quality of a chemically vapor deposited (CVD) polycrystalline SiC and quartz to be used as optics devices. Besides improving the surface roughness of the material, the research also emphasizes increasing the material removal rate (MRR) and minimizing the diamond tool wear. Besides improving the quality, machining parameters to make this manufacturing process more time and cost efficient are also suggested.

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