Application of Ultrasonic Vibration Shoe Centerless Grinding Technique to Micro-Scale Parts Fabrication

The present authors proposed a new centerless grinding technique for the fabrication of microscale pin-shaped parts. The new technique uses an ultrasonic vibration shoe whose structure and dimensions was determined in detail by FEM analysis instead of a regulating wheel as in conventional centerless grinding. The workpiece is supported by the end face of the shoe and the blade, and the rotational motion is controlled by the micro elliptic motion generated on the end face of the shoe. a shoe was made and installed on an existing centerless grinder to perform actual microscale centreless grinding operations involving a tungsten carbide pin-shaped workpiece 0.6 mm in diameter and 15mm in length. The experimental result gave a microscale workpiece 75μm in diameter and 15 mm in length.