Mist-Abrasion Machining of Brittle Material and Its Application in Corrective Figuring of Optical Parts

Abstract

Polished surfaces are usually used for corrective figuring in ultraprecision machining, but in this research, corrective figuring of a rough quartz sample has been preformed before the polishing process. A capacitor probe has been used to measure out the flatness of a rough quartz sample since the laser interferometer measuring device restrictions. Mist-abrasion machining method is proposed for corrective figuring of the optical materials. By the new figuring method, not only the polishing time decreases but also its efficiency increases by bigger abrasive grain size. The fundamental characteristics and its applicability for corrective figuring of a flat quartz sample are investigated. Flatness of the rough quartz sample is improved from PV=0.4μm to PV=0.1μm before the polishing process by mist-abrasion figuring.