Beveling of quartz crystal blanks: model development

Abstract

A process model for the beveling of quartz crystal blanks is presented in this paper. Given a beveled crystal blank specification, material removal rate, initial bevel depth, and critical gap height can be calculated from the process parameters including powder type, machine rpm, barrel diameter, etc. Material removal rate and initial bevel depth are used to predict the beveling time, and critical gap height is used to predict the bevel profile. This model has been validated using various blanks and good agreement with experiments is found. Process optimization is also possible with the aid of this process model. Thus, this model provides an efficient and cost-effective way to the design of quartz crystal resonators. The model being developed has been successfully used in the design of quartz crystal blanks for the real batch production. Since this model is a combined physical and empirical one, it can be expanded to the batch processing of other materials.