Surface Finishing Using Carbon Nanotube Forest

The use of carbon nanotube forest as a brush tool to refine the surface roughness of brass in nanometer scale was reported. The carbon nanotube with a height of 700∼800 μm was first synthesized on silicon wafer by chemical vapor deposition. The carbon nanotube forest on silicon wafer was then transferred and bonded onto a stainless steel wheel. The wheel with carbon nanotube forest was installed on a precision milling machine and used to brush the surface of a brass specimen. The influence of various feed amount, brushing speed and brushing time on the surface roughness of the brass specimen were experimental evaluated. The results show that the increasing feed amount effectively reduces surface roughness of the brass specimen from 20 nanometers to 1 nanometer. Scanning electron microscopy images reveal the evidence of the bushing process that brass chips were melted on the tip of carbon nanotube forest.