Nanocomposite glass abrasives

Abstract

Cerium oxide is a suitable material for glass polishing because it has both a high chemical reactivity and a suitable hardness for glass polishing. We focused on nano-dispersion abrasives containing two materials that specialize in a chemical reactivity with glass and a suitable mechanical strength and they were synthesized by spray pyrolysis. We first review on CeO₂–ZrO₂–Y₂O₃ nano-composite abrasives that can show you the effect of nano-composition on glass polishing. These nano-composites showed slightly lower removal rate than commercial CeO₂-based abrasive, but the composite led to smooth surface of glass. The nano-dispersed SrZrO₃/ZrO₂ composite particles were then synthesized by spray pyrolysis. The glass polishing using SrZrO₃/ZrO₂ nanocomposite abrasives led to relatively high removal rate and quite smooth surface of glass. The SrZrO₃/CeO₂ abrasives showed superior polishing properties to conventional ceria-based abrasives by adjusting SrZrO₃/CeO₂ ratios. These results revealed that the nano-composition enables us to control mechanical and chemical ratios and this CMP control would lead to develop leading-edge abrasives.