Automated surface finishing of steel surfaces for thin-film sensors

Kategorien Konferenz (reviewed)
Jahr 2026
Autorinnen/Autoren Denkena, B., Buhl, H., Kowalke, D.:
Veröffentlicht in Procedia Computer Science 276 (2026), 7th International Conference on System-Integrated Intelligence (SysInt 2025) 04 - 06 June 2025, Bremen, Germany, S. 191-198.
Beschreibung

In manufacturing,the need for process monitoring is increasing due to high-quality demands and cost pressure. Forces are suitable data sources for process monitoring. An approach to circumvent additional sensors is the use of sensory machine components. The direct deposition of strain gauges, by using a sputtering process,offers a high potential for automation in the manufacturing of sensory machine components. However, high requirements regarding the component's surface quality must be met before insulation and sensor layers can be deposited to manufacture functioning sensors. While chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) is a well-known and established process for manufacturing wafers, it is unsuitablefor most complex mechanical components. To achieve reproducible surface roughness on complex workpieces, an automated process adaptation for a polishing process is investigated using an Ultrasonic10 machine tool from DMG Sauer and different polishingpointtools. For the experimental investigation, ground C45W steel workpiecesare used. The results show that the automation of the manual polishing process using a machine tool leads to a surface roughness suitable for sputter deposition of sensors,while simultaneously reducing process time.

DOI 1877-0509 © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V