Optimal design of thrust bearing for high-speed composite air spindles

High-speed air spindles are appropriate for high-speed and high-precision machining such as small hole drilling of printed circuit board (PCB) or wafer cutting for manufacturing semiconductors. The axial load capability and stiffness of the air spindles for drilling operation are dependent on the thrust bearings. The thrust bearings are composed of an air supply part in the housing and a rotating part. Since stresses induced in the rotating part of thrust bearing by centrifugal force are very high at high-rotational speed, the axial stiffness and load capability of an air spindle should be designed considering stresses due to centrifugal force as well as the natural frequency of the rotating shaft to avoid the resonant whip vibration of the spindle. In this work, the air supply part and the rotating part of a thin thrust bearing were designed for a high-speed carbon fibre composite air spindle using the stiffness map to maximize the stiffness of the thrust bearing under axial and centrifugal forces.