Abrasive carriers have the task of receiving the abrasive in the form of slurrys or pastes in even distribution on their surfaces and binding them loosely. The removal and smoothing process must be supported by the abrasive carrier without the latter being involved in the process directly. This is the condition, chiefly, for a profiled or structured surface, mechanical abrasion resistance, elasticity and resistance against the slurries and reactive fluids used. Additional requirements are form and dimension stability, impermeability against penetration of the abrasive and a high reception capacity for abrasion [WASC93].
A possible division of the different abrasive carriers can be made on the basis of their respective hardness. Thus three groups can be defined [KHAL79]:
• plastically deformable abrasive carriers like pitch or cast polyurethane,
• soft abrasives like cloths or synthetic felts with a loose structure with a thickness ranging from a few millimetres to several centimetres and
• hard abrasives which are difficult to deform, such as hard felts, filled or unfilled polyurethane foams, impregnated fibrous webs or fine laminates which allow for the use of high contact pressures.
Included in the last group are abrasives used for the synchrospeed method. The reason for this is that many polishing foils which are excellently suited to metal — lographic studies do not hold up against the pressures and rotational speeds used in such kinematics and are thus subject to a large amount of wear [KLOC04a]. For the synchrospeed method, plastic-based abrasive carriers are generally used, such as polyurethane films. Depending on the application, they may also be impregnated with abrasive particles. The advantage of these films is not only that their entire thickness can be used in dressing, but they also have a long tool life, which makes them suitable for polishing.