Generation of rotationally symmetric surfaces by infeed grinding with a rotary table and a cup wheel

In infeed grinding with a rotary table and a cup wheel, the wheel radius, the center distance between the rotary table and the cup wheel, the wheel inclination angle and the rotary table direction angle can be actively chosen. This makes it capable of generating a rich family of rotationally symmetric surface shapes with high accuracy, high surface finish and high surface integrity in a cost effective way. However, its application has long been confined to silicon wafers flattening and thinning. In this study, the theoretical basis for the rotationally symmetric surface generation by this grinding method was developed. The possible shape types of the generating curves and the substantial influence of the machine configuration parameters on their shape characteristics were analyzed. It was found that, besides flat surface, it can be used to generate straight conical surface, convex conical surface, concave conical surface, convex to concave conical surface, concave to convex conical surface, convex to concave to convex conical surface and concave to convex to concave conical surface.