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 unsuitable for most complex mechanical components. To achieve reproducible surface roughness on complex workpieces, an automated process adaptation for a polishing process is investigated using an Ultrasonic 10 machine tool from DMG Sauer and different polishing point tools. For the experimental investigation, ground C45W steel workpieces are 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.
Kowalke et al. (Thu,) studied this question.