Research on Chemical Mechanical Polishing Technology for Zirconium-Based Amorphous Alloys

Crystallization often occurs in the processing of amorphous alloys, causing the materials lose their excellent properties. The study adopts chemical mechanical polishing of amorphous alloys, presenting the effect of the rotational speed of the polishing turntable, size of abrasive, polishing pressure, and oxidant concentration. The Taguchi method is used to find the best processing parameters, and AFM is used to characterize the machined material surface. At the same time, XPS is used to detect the change of oxide film composition with the addition of oxidant. The results indicate the optimum process parameters: rotational speed of the polishing turntable is 75 r/min, polishing pressure is 28.3 kPa, the size of abrasive is 0.5 μm, and the size of abrasive is a significant factor affecting surface roughness Sa. In addition, as the size of abrasive increases, the material removal rate increases while the surface roughness Sa increases. At pH 10, with an abrasive particle size of 0.5 μm, as the H₂O₂ concentration increases, the MRR first rapidly decreases at 0.21 wt.% H₂O₂, and then gradually increases, while the Sa decreases. Furthermore, with the addition of oxidant, the main composition of the surface oxide film changes from oxide to hydroxide, and the contents of Zr⁴⁺ and Cu⁰/Cu¹⁺ elements increase. The findings can provide a feasible chemical mechanical polishing process for zirconium-based amorphous alloys to obtain a satisfactory polishing effect.