The damaging of ZnSe crystal has a significant impact on its service performance and life. Based on the specific cutting energies for brittle and ductile mode machining, a model is proposed to evaluate the damage depth in the shoulder region of ZnSe crystal during single point diamond machining. The model considers the brittle-ductile transition and spring back of ZnSe crystal. To verify the model, the elastic modulus, hardness, spring back, and friction coefficient of ZnSe crystal are measured by nanoindentation and nanoscratch tests, and its critical undeformed chip thickness is obtained by spiral scratching. Meanwhile, orthogonal cutting experiments are conducted to obtain the different shoulder regions and cutting surfaces. The shoulder damage depth is analyzed, indicating that the effect of the feed on the damage depth at a high cutting depth is stronger than that at a low one. The model is verified to be effective with an average relative error of less than 7%. Then, the model is used to calculate the critical processing parameters and achieve a smooth ZnSe surface with a roughness Sa = 1.0 nm. The model is also extended to efficiently predict the bound of the subsurface damage depth of a cutting surface. The research would be useful for the evaluation of surface and subsurface damages during the ultra-precision machining of ZnSe crystal.
Keywords: ZnSe crystal; diamond machining; subsurface damage; undeformed chip thickness.