G. Zhong; S. Liu; X. Li; Y. Wang; S. Huang; L. Xu; D. Zhang; B. Guo; C. Huang
Intelligent and Sustainable Manufacturing 2 (2025) 10004
Single-crystal silicon (Si) and silicon carbide (SiC) are core semiconductor materials in communication, lighting, power generation, and transportation. However, their high hardness and wear resistance combined with low fracture toughness have posed significant challenges for high-efficiency and low-damage machining. Aqueous suspensions containing nanoparticle additives have recently been developed for sustainable manufacturing due to their satisfactory tribological performance and environmentally friendly nature. In this work, nanoadditives, including two-dimensional (2D) graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets and zero-dimensional (0D) diamond nanoparticles, were ultrasonically dispersed in water to formulate different GO-based nanosuspensions for achieving high-efficiency and low-damage abrasive machining. The experimental results indicated that GO nanosuspension was a suitable coolant for grinding Si, generating a ground surface of 32 nm in R a, owing to its great lubricity and excellent resistance against mechanical abrasion. Diamond-GO hybrid nanosuspension demonstrated a synergistic effect in abrasion, lubrication and oxidation, which was thus appropriate for polishing SiC single crystals, leading to approximate 60% and 30% improvements in removal and roughness respectively, in comparison to a commercially available diamond suspension.