Analytical Elastic–Plastic Cutting Model for Predicting Grain Depth-of-Cut in Ultrafine Grinding of Silicon Wafer

Grain depth-of-cut, which is the predominant factor determining the surface morphology, grinding force, and subsurface damage, has a significant impact on the surface quality of the finished part made of hard and brittle materials. When the existing analytical models are used to predict the gain depth-of-cut in ultra-precision grinding process of silicon wafer, the results obtained become unreasonable due to an extremely shallow grain depth-of-cut, which is inconsistent with the theory of the contact mechanics. In this study, an improved model for analyzing the grain depth-of-cut in ultra-fine rotational grinding is proposed, in which the minimum grain depth-of-cut for chip formation, the equivalent grain cutting tip radius, elastic recovery deformation in cutting process, and the actual number of effective grains are considered in the prediction of the ultrafine rotational grinding of brittle materials. The improved model is validated experimentally and shows higher accuracy than the existing model. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the grain depth-of-cut to three introduced factors is analyzed, presenting the necessity of the consideration of these factors during the prediction of grain depth-of-cut in ultrafine grinding.