A Buffing Pad Must! Flock Makes a Great Polishing Surface
In many industries, polishing of materials or products to achieve final specifications and finish is critically important. Customers must know they can rely on suppliers to achieve the agreed upon specifications consistently.
The flock fiber substrate enables the optimization of the final polish step by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). Using flock fiber on buffing pads, polishing pads, or surfacing pads is a great option for polishing materials like aluminum oxide or various micron and nano-sized polishing compounds. The rayon fiber swells with aqueous slurry (including the chemicals) and holds the grinding media (mechanical) during the polishing process. The flocked surface is flexible and will marry to the surface to be polished, whether the part is flat glass or a curved part. In addition, there are plenty of gaps between the fibers which allows swarf and debris to go and keep these particles from re-scratching the surface. The result is a very fine, consistent polish across the whole part.
These polishing pads – including buffing pads, polishing pads, and surfacing pads – are produced by applying a rayon flock of various lengths onto a fabric, nonwoven, film, foam, or other substrates, via a proprietary process, which is suitable for most final polishing needs. The flocked fiber and backing can be selected for their chemical resistance properties. Embossed pockets or textures can be added for holding polishing slurry and creating additional paths for swarf and debris.
Flocked polishing pads are particularly useful for the planarization of semiconductor wafers. Such planarization is carried out using a polishing slurry and the surface area polished is quite large (ie 300mm wafers). During polishing, the polishing fluid is placed between the flocked polishing pad surface and the substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer. As the pad is moved relative to the substrate being polished, the substrate is planarized. Improved flow of polishing fluid generally allows for more efficient and effective polishing performance with no haze and removes the debris in an efficient, non damaging manner.
Flocked polishing materials have also been used to polish optical lenses, fiber optic cables, metals, stones, automotive parts.
We can supply products in roll-to-roll widths up to 64″. The flock fibers can be rayon, nylon, polyester, cotton, or blends flocked on fabrics, nonwovens, films, foams, or other substrates. Polishing materials can be custom designed for your requirements with different diameters, lengths, lusters, and cross sections of flock fiber. We only use water based non toxic adhesives for the flocking process.
For over 45 years, we have been a leading supplier of flocked consumable polishing pad materials for the optical, electronic, metal, fiber optic cable, semiconductor wafer, and other markets.
Our team at Spectro Coating Corp. is ready to work with you to develop the perfect flocked polishing product to meet your requirements.