Technological study of polishing animated by a vibratory movement for BK7 glass

Abstract

The miniaturization of lenses has recently been in high demand in new fields such as medicine and industry. In this paper, a new polishing technique is presented. It is based on the magnetostrictive principle, where the polishing tool is driven by a vibratory motion that generates a frequency. We present an experimental study between the parameters influencing the vibratory polishing process, namely: vibration frequency, polishing time, type of polisher and final state of the optical surface. Different vibrations were examined by roughness and transmission obtained. The results showed that using a frequency of 4.62 KHz with a polisher type Lp66, the surface finish (roughness) and transmission are better (Ra = 4.27 nm, Rq = 5.47 nm and T = 98%) during a one-hour polishing operation with a low material removal rate MRR, a surface profile that tends to be more regular and a shape of about 3.02 µm PV.