Method of cutting a ceramic base plate

Details Method of cutting a ceramic base plate Method of cutting a ceramic base plate

1998-07-27

2001-01-23

Eley, Timothy V. (Department: 3723)

Abrading

Abrading process

C451S041000, C451S056000, C125S002000, C125S011010

Reexamination Certificate

active

06176762

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention directly relates to a production method, through which, in the cutting process of the ceramic base plate which is used for the magnetic head, a whetstone can be dressed and sharpened while the whetstone being used for machining process and said ceramic base plate can be cut simultaneously, so that the cutting efficiency can be improved. The present invention also relates directly to a supporting plate which can support a work piece to be machined, exhibits an excellent heat resistance, can be fixed by a vacuum-absorption onto the cutting stage, and therefore be usable for the process of said ceramic base plate.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
In the magnetic head which is manufactured through the precise machining, Al
2
O
3
—TiC system materials are dominantly utilized as magnetic head base plate materials while ZrO
2
system or SiC system materials have been preferably selected as materials for the ceramic base plates. In general, the film thickness of these oxide plates is ranged from 1 mm to 3 mm. Responding to current demands on a narrow-gapping and a miniaturization of magnetic heads, further precise process and higher quality control become to be indispensable tasks.
Accordingly, a rotary blade for sufficient cutting operation used for the precise process has a trend in such a way that the blade thickness of the whetstone being provided on the outer periphery of said rotary blade will be further thinner and the rigidity of the whetstone blade will be much lower. Since when the cutting resistance during the cutting operation using the whetstone blade becomes higher, the bending toward to the axial direction will take place and preciseness and quality of the cut surfaces might be adversely affected; therefore it is indispensable to keep the lower level of the cutting resistance for the whetstone blade in order to unsure the constant precision process.
The whetstone blade for the rotary blades as described above is normally fabricated by combining the diamond abrasive grains with polymeric resins or metals. In order to keep the low level of the cutting resistance of said whetstone blade, the whetstone blade is normally sharpened and dressed.
Namely, as for the conventional method of cutting the ceramic base plate as seen in
FIG. 2
, a supporting plate
2
made of a ceramic material is fixed through the vacuum-absorption mechanism onto the stage
1
of the cutting machine. Onto this supporting plate
2
, the ceramic base plate
3
(which is a work-piece to be machined) and dressing plate
4
(which is made of a sintered porous alumina body and used for dressing/sharpening the blade) are placed in line and parallel to the rotary blade
5
and bonded with the wax. The dressing plate
4
is machined by a rotary cutting blade
5
. After the dressing/sharpening the whetstone blade is completed, the ceramic base plate
3
is tranceferred to the cutting operation. After cutting it for predetermined cycles, the dressing/sharpening operation will be repeated.
By the conventional cutting operation for the ceramic base plates, once the cutting resistance of the rotary blade
5
becomes gradually larger during the cutting process, the rotary blade
5
is dressed and sharpened by the dressing plate
4
. After the dressing operation is completed, the cutting process of the ceramic base plate
3
is repeated. The dressing of the whetstone blade is performed whenever needed between the cutting operations of the ceramic base plate.
However, the dressing effect on the rotary blade is gradually deteriorated during the cutting the ceramic base plate
3
, and the cutting resistance will become higher, so that the stable cutting resistance can not be maintained any more. Furthermore, the conventional method, as seen in
FIG. 2
, has another technical problem such as that the transferring locus of the rotary blade
5
is U-shaped and such movement is repeated many times, so that the cutting efficiency will be also deteriorated.
Accordingly, as seen in
FIG. 3
, the dressing plate
4
and the ceramic base plate
3
are arranged and wax-bonded on the supporting plate
2
of the stage of the cutting machine on a line extending along a moving direction of the rotary cutting blades
5
. As a result, the whetstone blade can be dressed and sharpened in-process manner in order to reduce the cutting resistance thereof and to machine the ceramic base plate
3
.
By the aforementioned method, although the dressing effect and the process efficiency can be expected to some extent, the dimension and size of the dressing plate
4
are needed to be designed appropriately in corresponding to the dimension and shape of the ceramic base plate
3
as a work-piece. Moreover, the operator should determine the optimum conditions for the stable zone in terms of the cutting resistance of the rotary blade
5
and an extensive experience is required to have a proper arranging the dressing plate
4
and ceramic base plate
5
onto the supporting plate
2
of the stage
1
. These tasks require a certain period of time to become a skill operator. Furthermore, the conventional method possesses another technical drawback such that for fixing the dressing plate
4
, said wax component might be penetrated into the porous dressing plate.
OBJECTIVE OF THE INVENTION
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a production method through which the process efficiency of the conventional type of the ceramic base plate can be improved, the stable cutting resistance can be obtained during the cutting process, and excellent production precision can be achieved.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a supporting plate for cutting the ceramic base plate and a production method by which the wax-bonding can be achieved with the ceramic base plate as a work-piece to be machined, a firmly setting through the vacuum-absorption to the stage of the cutting machine, and the dressing of the whetstone blade and the cutting the ceramic base plate can be operated at the same time, so that a stable cutting resistance can be maintained and excellent production efficiency can be achieved.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
After the present inventors investigated various methods in order to enhance the process efficiency, to maintain the stable cutting resistance, and to achieve the excellent precision process, it was found that a stable cutting resistance and excellent process efficiency can be obtained by a simultaneous operation of dressing/sharpening the whetstone blade of the rotary blade and cutting the ceramic base plate.
In order to overcome the technical drawbacks associated with the conventional method such as production method of the ceramic base plate and dressing plate as mentioned previously, the material and structure of the supporting plate for the ceramic base plate had been extensively investigated in order to make the wax-bonding possible to the ceramic base plate, to make the fixing through the vacuum-absorption possible to the stage of the cutting machine, and the make the simultaneous operation possible of the dressing the blade and the cutting the ceramic base plate. As a result, a glass is welded on the surface of the dressing plate which is made of sintered porous alumina body to seal both side surfaces of said dressing plate, so that it can serve as both a supporting plate and dressing plate. Furthermore, the ceramic base plate is wax-bonded to the upper surface thereof and the lower surface is fixed to stage of the cutting machine through the vacuum-absorption. Hence, a simultaneous operation of the dressing the blade and cutting the ceramic base plate can be achieved. Furthermore, the stable cutting resistance and excellent process efficiency can also be achieved.
The present inventors have also investigated the structure which can be used for both the supporting plate for the ceramic base plate and the dressing plate. As a result, the following structure was evaluated to be the most promising structure to meet the requirements. Namely, a glass paste with a certai

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