In-process monitoring of contact zone forces during rotational grinding of silicon wafers

The basic mechanical interdependencies in rotational grinding of silicon wafers are hardly known. Therefore, a three-component piezoelectric force sensor was integrated into a resin bond D3 cup-grinding wheel segment to analyse the loads in the contact zone. The locally varying force components in the segment's normal, tangential and radial direction were measured with wheel speeds of up to 6000 rpm, allowing for measurements with accelerations of up to 5000 g. The radial forces were found to be of no significant magnitude, while normal and tangential forces proved to be substantial and of the same order.process characterizing parameters such as forces and temperatures. Future work must investigate the influence of crystal orientation onto the process forces.