This article summarizes laser assisted single point diamond turning (SPDT) of select brittle and hard materials, using the μ-LAM process. These materials all have significant industrial importance in the modern day. It is shown that the μ-LAM process can produce smooth surfaces, with roughness values range from 40 nm RMS down to subnanometer RMS.
In this paper, experimental results on single point diamond turning (SPDT) of fused silica glass, using the µ- LAM process is reported. It is shown that with a certain combination of tooling geometry, coolant, and laser beam power, surfaces with roughness values of 20 nm - 30 nm RMS can be achieved. Such surfaces are obtained with spindle speeds of 1000 RPM. All the experiments are done on planar samples. For tool machining track lengths greater than 3 km, a tool wear-land of 10 µm on the flank face of the tool was observed.
Mass production of Ge lenses is a very common operation in the infrared (IR) optics manufacturing industry. The process of choice for production of such optics is single point diamond turning (SPDT). Ge is a very suitable material for SPDT and this gives the ability to produce complex elements with excellent surface finishes (<5 nm RMS). In this paper the application of the Micro-LAM (referred to μ-LAM hereafter) process in SPDT of single crystal Ge is reported. The main idea is to investigate the maximum in-feed rates for a spindle speed of 5000 RPM as function of the tool nose radius and rake angle. Typical industry practice is to machine Ge with a spindle speed of 5000 RPM to 12000 RPM, and finishing in-feed rates between 0.5 μm/rev and 1 μm/rev. It is shown that an increase in the tool nose radius leads to an increase in the maximum in-feed achievable without the appearance of brittle fracture zones on the surface. It is also shown that using larger negative rake angles can also enable higher tool in-feeds without trade-off’s to the surface quality.
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