With higher requirement setting for hard disk substrate to minimize roughness and defects of the polished surface, abrasive-free polishing (AFP) of hard disk substrate has been put forward in this paper. The effect of Zn (II) ion on the AFP of hard disk substrate in the H2O2 based slurry was investigated by AFP tests. The results indicate that the material removal rate of hard disk substrate polished in slurry with Zn (II) ion is obviously higher than that without Zn (II) ion. And surface polished by slurry containing Zn (II) ion exhibits lower surface roughness and fewer nano-asperity peaks than that without Zn (II) ion. Furthermore, the acting mechanism of Zn (II) ion in AFP of hard disk substrate was analyzed. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis shows that metal Zn appears on the polished surface, implying the tribochemistry reaction occurs during AFP. The electrochemical reaction between metal Zn and oxide film Ni2O3 on the surface of hard disk substrate during AFP can promote the chemical effect in AFP and lead to the increasing of material removal rate. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.