Technology Precision Machining of Ceramic Balls in the V-Grooves of Variable Curvature

Many industries employ a great variety of ball bearings, pumps, and other mechanisms, whose performance, service life, and reliability essentially depend on the quality of manufacture of precision ceramic balls. This chapter describes the traditional methods of processing precision balls, their advantages, and disadvantages in relation to the precision processing of ceramic balls. Several modern methods of precision machining of ceramic balls with the controlled position of the balls’ rotation axis during processing are considered and present a promising method of processing balls in guide V-grooves with variable curvature, which allows you to control both the quality and performance of processing. A mathematical model of processing balls with the variable position of the balls’ rotation axis is suggested. The mathematical model takes into account the forces, pressures, and wears of the guide V-grooves and allows determining the performance of the tool and assessing the quality of the balls surface coating by traces of processing. Examples of tools with guide V-grooves with variable curvature are shown, and the results of the proposed method of precision processing of boron carbide balls are given.