Novel green chemical mechanical polishing by controlling pH values and redox reaction for achieving atomic surface of a nickel alloy.

[Display omitted] • A novel green chemical mechanical polishing was developed. • Surface roughness Sa of 0.179 nm is achieved. • Chemical mechanical polishing mechanism is elucidated. Traditional chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) normally employs noxious slurries, leading to pollution to the environment. It is a challenge to achieve atomic surfaces of nickel (Ni) alloy using green CMP. To overcome this challenge, a novel green CMP was developed, including composite abrasives of ceria and silica, mandelic acid, hydrogen peroxide and deionized water. Using the developed green CMP, atomic surface with surface roughness Sa of 0.179 nm was achieved, under a scanning area of 50 × 50 μm2. Electrochemical tests indicate that the developed slurry has effective corrosion ability on Ni alloy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy reveal that the Ni alloy was oxidized by hydrogen peroxide, forming oxides of Ni, chromium (Cr) and molybdenum (Mo). Cr and Mo oxides demonstrated better stability in mandelic acid, while Ni oxides reacted with hydrogen ions and produced Ni2+ and Ni3+ ions. The ions chelated with mandelic acid. Finally, the generated oxides and reaction products were removed by abrasives and a polishing pad under chemical and mechanical balanced functions. The developed green CMP paves a new avenue to obtain atomic surface of a Ni alloy for the possible applications of high-performance components in aerospace industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]