Development of an Electroplated Polishing Tape Applying Electrodeposited Nickel Foil Method

Abstract

Diamond polishing tapes are commonly used for edge finishing of zirconia ferrules. There remains a problem that the diamond tape has too short tool life due to weak bonding strength. Then we propose a new method to make a diamond tape applying electrodeposited nickel foil method. This method is very useful to make a long metal foil continuously and commercially used for manufacturing of a copper foil. In order to improve the tensile strength of the foil, we performed composite electroforming utilizing glass fibers. It was confirmed that the concentration of abrasives could be increased by using Ni-electroplated diamond abrasives. A series of experiments to finish zirconia ferrules proved long tool life of the developed polishing tape.