Study on Surface Smoothing of Ceramics by Large-area Electron Beam Irradiation

Abstract

Ceramics are sintered hard materials which are applied to various industrial fields, since the ceramics have excellent properties such as mechanical, electrical, thermal properties and corrosion resistance. However, brittle fracture easily occurs, since the ceramics are highly brittle materials. Therefore, it is difficult to perform surface smoothing for the ceramics by mechanical machining method. On the other hand, large -area electron beam (EB) irradiation method can melt metal surfaces of wide area instantly and uniformly. Highly efficient surface smoothing of metals can be done by the EB irradiation. In this study, possibility of surface smoothing for ceramics such as zirconia and alumina by the large-area EB irradiation was investigated. It was made clear that ceramics surface can be smoothed, and surface glossiness can be improved by the EB irradiation. The smoothing effect of zirconia surface is much higher than that of the alumina one.