Nanocutting mechanism of 6H-SiC investigated by scanning electron microscope online observation and stress-assisted and ion implant-assisted approaches

Nanocutting mechanism of single crystal 6H-SiC is investigated through a novel scanning electron microscope setup in this paper. Various undeformed chip thicknesses on (0001)   orientation are adopted in the nanocutting experiments. Phase transformation and dislocation activities involved in the 6H-SiC nanocutting process are also characterized and analyzed. Two methods of stress-assisted and ion implant-assisted nanocutting are studied to improve 6H-SiC ductile machining ability. Results show that stress-assisted method can effectively decrease the hydrostatic stress and help to activate dislocation motion and ductile machining; ion implant-induced damages are helpful to improve the ductile machining ability from MD simulation and continuous nanocutting experiments under the online observation platform.