ABSTRACT
Surfaces play a signicant role in the service life of engineering components. The present technological world demands surface roughness of many products on the order of a nanometer (10−9 m). It is also desirable to automate the process, whereby the desired surface nish on the components can be obtained easily in the shortest possible time. It is well established that the fatigue life of a component is strongly inuenced by surface integrity, including its surface nish. Therefore, surface conditions become important factors inuencing fatigue strength because irregular and rough surfaces generally exhibit inferior fatigue properties [1]. As surface roughness increases, many problems such as ow resistance, wear, and optical loss increase, resulting in a decreased efciency. Hence, low
surface roughness value (or better surface nish) of engineering components is necessary to improve the following product features, among many others:
r Wear resistance r Mechanical properties of the material such as enhanced fatigue life and toughness r Electrical properties r Corrosion and oxidation resistance r Aesthetic appearance
Many components/products require surface roughness value in the nanometer range. In such cases, some surface polishing is required during or after fabrication. Recently, the need for ne nishing of materials such as semiconductors and ceramics has become important in the elds of electronics and precision machinery. A variety of polishing methods have been developed to fulll these requirements.
