A cylindrical workpiece with a helical axial groove allowing for centerless grinding which has an angular overlap around the outer circumference on the body of the workpiece. The angular overlap ensures continuous tangential contact with the grinding wheels as the workpiece is rotated.

A grinding apparatus includes a holding table for holding a wafer, a support table for supporting the holding table, a motor for rotating the support table, a frame member supporting the support table for rotation, and at least three support poles for supporting the frame member from the base. Each of the support poles has formed in the inside thereof a through-hole, a supply port which communicates the through-hole and an air supply source with each other, and an exhaust port which exhausts air having flowed through the through-hole toward the support table. Air is supplied into the through-hole to cool the support pole, and the air having flowed through the through-hole is exhausted toward the support table.

A multi-angle automated polishing system comprises a workbench, a holding unit, a polishing unit, and a control unit. The holding unit comprises a holding component for holding an object, a transverse drive configured to drive the holding component to move transversely along the plane of the workbench, a translational drive configured to drive the holding component to move translationally along the plane of the workbench, and a rotary drive configured to drive the holding component to rotate transversely along the plane of the workbench. The holding unit further comprises a rotating unit and a rotating drive configured to drive the rotating unit to rotate. The polishing unit comprises a polishing component and a polishing drive configured to drive the polishing unit in operation. The control unit is connected to the transverse drive, the rotary drive, the rotating drive, and the polishing drive.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide surface treatment tools, methodologies, and/or treated turbomachine components. A surface treatment tool according to the present disclosure can include a lathe assembly having a lathe chuck for receiving a component thereon, wherein the lathe chuck rotates the component about a first axis of rotation, and wherein the component includes an exposed axial target surface; and a sander or burnishing tool coupled to the lathe assembly and including a sanding or burnishing surface thereon, coupled to a drive system, wherein the sanding or burnishing surface is oriented along a second axis substantially non-parallel with the first axis of rotation, such that the sanding or burnishing surface selectively contacts the target surface of the component to yield a polished target surface.

A grinding apparatus includes a holding unit including a holding table having a holder for holding a workpiece and a grinding water suction part for drawing in grinding water outside of the holder, a rotational shaft having an end fixed centrally to a bottom surface of the holding table, a tubular rotary joint surrounding the rotational shaft, and a motor rotating the rotational shaft about its own axis. The rotational shaft has a first suction channel held in fluid communication with the holder of the holding table and a second suction channel held in fluid communication with the grinding water suction part. The rotary joint has a communication channel by which the first suction channel and the second suction channel are held in fluid communication with at least a suction source.

Provided is a method of transferring a semiconductor wafer to a single-side polishing apparatus without forming scratches on the surface of the semiconductor wafer. The method includes: starting to splay the liquid from each spray hole; placing the semiconductor wafer on the retainer portion to hold a surface of the semiconductor wafer by suction without contact, and raising the tray to attach the semiconductor wafer to the polishing head, wherein a period of time from a point at which the semiconductor wafer is held by the retainer portion to a point at which the attaching of the semiconductor wafer W to the polishing head is completed is 5 s or more, or wherein a ratio of a total area of the protrusions to an area of the semiconductor wafer is 15% or more.

The blocking device includes a blocking portion configured for blocking the semi-finished optical element and including a support member configured for providing a rigid support to the semi-finished optical element, the support member including a support element made of a shape-memory material having a rigid state below a predetermined temperature and a plastic state above the predetermined temperature, the support element assuming in the absence of external forces a predetermined memory shape when heated above the predetermined temperature, the support member having a contact face onto which the first face of the semi-finished optical element is to be applied; saind blocking portion including at least one of a heating device configured for heating the support element above the predetermined temperature and a cooling device configured for cooling the support element below the predetermined temperature.

The invention discloses a wafer polishing system, which comprises polishing units. The polishing unit comprises a wafer transfer channel and polishing modules. The polishing module comprises a polishing platform and a polishing arm, and the polishing arm can drive wafers to move relative to the polishing platform. The wafer transfer channel is provided with at least two working positions, and a load port can move between the working positions. A delivery structure is arranged between adjacent polishing units, which transfers wafers between working positions of the adjacent polishing units along a first trajectory, and the first trajectory falls on the wafer transfer channel. The invention further discloses a wafer transfer method. The trajectories of this invention all fall within the wafer transfer channel, without occupying any additional space, thereby ensuring a reasonable layout. The process is flexible and highly efficient, and transfer stability is high.

A clamping device for holding a workpiece, in particular a cutting tool, during machining in a grinding machine, wherein peripheral grinding of the workpiece is performed by means of a particularly approximately cup-shaped grinding wheel, wherein the clamping device comprises a support unit provided to be mounted on the grinding machine, a clamping unit comprising a clamping anvil supported in a clamping anvil holding element and translationally drivable to apply a clamping force parallel to a clamping axis, and a drive unit comprising a drive anvil supported in a drive axis and rotationally drivable for rotary orientating the workpiece by means of the drive axis. The clamping unit and the drive unit are provided as individual components, which are releasably or slidably attached to the support unit to form a workpiece spindle headstock of the grinding machine.

A method and system for observing and monitoring thermal characteristics of a machining operation, such as a surface finishing operation, performed on a workpiece is disclosed. The surface finishing operation can be performed on the workpiece in order to remove a surface defect, e.g. a parting line, on a surface of the workpiece and/or to provide a mirror-like finish to the workpiece. In one embodiment, an emissive layer is applied to the workpiece to increase a thermal emissivity of the workpiece. In some embodiments, a finishing surface, such as a polishing or buffing wheel, and/or a lubricant used in a finishing operation is monitored. A thermal profile of the surface of the workpiece, finishing surface and/or lubricant can be obtained. The finishing operation can be modified in response to the monitored thermal characteristics to prevent the occurrence of defects and improve the efficacy of the finishing operation.