Materials removal mechanism and multi modes feature for silicon carbide during scratching

YH Huang and YQ Zhou and JM Li and FL Zhu, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCES, 235, 107719 (2022).

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2022.107719

Multi modes features during machining of brittle materials determine the process window. To reveal these fundamental features of SiC, a series of scratching experiments and atomistic simulations were designed. Real- time signals of scratching force and acoustic emission were analyzed in the time-domain and time-frequency domains to distinguish features. The birefringence of 4H-SiC in polarized light was non-destructively deployed to analyze the localized stress distribution and morphology after scratching. The experiments found four scratching modes - Hertz mode, quasi-ductility mode, high stress mode, and stylus failure mode. To reveal the atom-level behaviors inducing mode transition, atomistic simulations were conducted and post-analyzed from macro-level parameters, phase transition, dislocations, and so forth. The dynamic cycle mechanism - elastic deformation, plastic deformation, cracking - was revealed and the shear modulus, poisson's ratio, scratching speed, penetration depth, and deformation energy was recommended to optimize analytical model. Finally, we attempted to propose a unified qualitative multi layers model to explain different material removal mechanisms.

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