Reconditioning of diamond dicing blades via electrolytic dressing

In this study, the process of “co-axial rotational electrolytic dressing reclaiming” is proposed to explore the possibility of reclaiming an electroformed diamond dicing blade by dressing, and thinning. The dicing blade was rotated slowly in an electrolysis tank controlled by a negative plate design and electrolysis conditions. The nickel atoms on the dicing blade surface were gradually and evenly dissolved and the grinding debris in the chip pockets were able to escape effortlessly, thus exposing fresh diamond grains. Whether dressing or thinning, the time required was only about 300 s, and the dicing blade was restored to an equivalent grinding force. After dressing, grinding current was reduced from 0.82 A to 0.21 A, increasing grinding length by at least 5.5 m, while die edge chipping was very little. It was also experimentally proven that thinning reduces the width of the grinding lane from 66 µm to 45 µm and extended the length of grinding up to an additional 4.5 m. The experiments showed that dressing and thinning with high-accuracy and -concentricity could be rapidly realized even for a very thin dicing blade, since there was no mechanical or thermal stress. This proves that ‘co-axial rotational electrolytic dressing reclaiming’ facilitates rapid reclaiming of an electroformed diamond dicing blade without deformation. It prolongs service life and produces narrower lanes between dies.