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Large aperture lenses with high surface quality are demanded for professional imaging products such as single-lens reflex cameras and astronomical telescopes. Large aperture optical lenses are shaped by ultra-precision grinding and finished by prolonged polishing. However, the prolonged polishing process leads to deterioration of the form accuracy. In order to reduce the amount of polishing, ductile-mode ultra-precision grinding is demanded. In this study, a rubber bonded wheel, which has a low elastic modulus, is used for grinding of spherical glass BK7, and influence of the hardness of the rubber bonded wheel and abrasive chip thickness on brittle fracture and surface roughness are experimentally investigated.

Sapphire is an attractive engineering material for the cover glass of smartphones and wristwatches because of its high hardness and resistance to corrosion, wear, and heat. However, the high rate of tool wear and brittle chippings around the holes are serious problems associated with drilling sapphire. To enhance the accuracy and efficiency of the drilling process on sapphire, this paper presents a novel tool-path strategy using helical milling along with various tool path patterns. Experimental results show that the proposed method successfully reduces brittle chippings around the holes.

Large-aperture lens used for single-lens reflex cameras is generally produced by both ultra-precision grinding and polishing because a mass-produced lens by molding process can hardly achieve the required form accuracy and surface quality. Recently, grinding process of an optical glass should make surface quality as high as possible in order to reduce removal amount in polishing process. Accordingly, evaluation of subsurface damage induced under various grinding conditions has been required because subsurface damage leads to crack initiation or deterioration of the performance. However, evaluation method of subsurface damage on the spherical glass lens after grinding has not yet been established.In this study, the quantitative evaluation method by applying wet-etching of hydrofluoric acid (HF) is proposed, then its validity is verified. From the experimental results, we clarify to evaluate the subsurface damage by examining the surface transition according to etching time.

The cutting force is widely regarded as being the most valuable information when observing a metal cutting process. Considering practicability, indirect cutting force measurement methods which forego additional sensors have been studied in academic field. Disturbance observer-based cutting force estimation method was known as a typical example, and its validity was verified in linear motor driven stage. However, accurate cutting force estimation is still difficult in ball-screw driven stage because of non-linear friction and resonance. In this study, feasibility of sensorless cutting force estimation was verified by using large scale commercial machine tool. Considering that the motion of rotational and translational elements independently, cutting force observer (CFOB) was modeled as two-degree-of-freedom system. The CFOB was mounted to control systems of both stage and spindle head which were driven by ball-screw and servo motor. While friction force and torque have non-linear position dependence, high repeatability was confirmed. Thus, their non-linearity could be attenuated by identifying friction force and torque beforehand machining operation. From experimental results, it was shown that tooth-pass frequency and second harmonics component of the cutting forces could be estimated accurately by using the CFOB. The results were acquired from control systems of both stage and spindle head.

In this paper, we propose cutting-force-estimation method for a ball-screw-driven system using triple inertia model. In many cases, dual-inertia model is applied to describe the dynamic behavior of the ball-screw-driven system. In this paper, triple-inertia model is applied and cutting force was estimated without additional sensors, such as dynamometer. The cutting force observer is designed, regarding the ball-screw-driven system as two input and three output system. Simulation results indicate that the proposed method enables accurate estimation around the resonance frequencies. Experimental results showed that the proposed method could monitor external force without being interrupted by the inertia forces.Nomenclature

The demand for large aperture lenses with high surface quality and form accuracy used for single-lens reflex cameras has been increasing. Generally, large aperture glass lenses are produced by ultra-precision grinding. Considering the increasing global competition, the grinding process has to be improved. However, highly efficient grinding causes worse surface quality, which leads to much polishing and ultimately results in lower form accuracy. Thus in this study, aiming at the realization of highly efficient and precise grinding of glass lenses, cross grinding of optical glass BK7 is carried out. As a first step of the study, the influence of grinding conditions on the surface quality is investigated experimentally.

Detection of a tool fracture is necessary to ensure cutting accuracy and to avoid a tool breakage because tool fracture is one of the significant prediction signals of the tool breakage. For monitoring the tool condition, generally additional sensors are used. However using these sensors causes high cost and increase of failure rate. In this paper, a novel sensor-less detection method of tool fracture in drilling process is proposed on the basis of a disturbance observer theory. It is applied to the x-y stage of the machine tool. The proposed method requires no external sensor because it uses only the servo information of the spindle control system. Since structures of normal drills with two floats are symmetrical with respect to a point, theoretically the cutting force in the x and y directions does not work. When the drill is fractured, its structure becomes asymmetry so that unbalanced forces would exert in the x and y directions at intervals of the spindle speed. Therefore, it is possible to detect a tool fracture by the frequency analysis of estimated disturbance force with a wavelet transform. The experimental results show that the proposed method is available for detection of the small tool fracture effectively.

Viscoelastic polymer with high scratch resistance has been developed for coating material of product. Due to some particular characteristics such as viscoelasticity, it is difficult to finish the polymer coated surface. In the present circumstances, its polishing process is carried out by the trained technician and depends on the skill like adjustment of the polishing pressure according to the situation. To realize automation of the polishing, high-precision and highly-responsive force control is required firstly. Typically force control is done with force sensor. However when external sensor is used, there are some problems such as high-cost, reduction of machine stiffness and thermal drift. The thermal drift which is caused by polishing heat prohibits accurate measuring of force. The purpose of this research is to develop the polishing pressure control method without any additional sensor. In addition, applying the control method to buffing machine, buffing performance of viscoelastic polymer is experimentally analyzed.

Viscoelastic polymers are used as one of coating materials for protecting the products from scratches. Presently, the repair of the coating surface for removing dust or extraneous matters has been performed through several polishing processes. However, it becomes increasingly difficult to polish its surface by only applying good skill and experience of skilled worker because a leading-edge viscoelastic polymer for coating is further scratch-resistant. Thus, based on quantitative evaluation of relation between polishing process and finished surface, it is necessary to make the polishing process appropriate for the leading-edge viscoelastic polymers. In this study, we attempt to establish the evaluation method of the polished surface and clarify the surface condition with invisible scratches.

A polishing process, which is the final process in manufacturing optical elements, takes a long time and often depends on the experience and special skills. Development of a skill-less polishing technology and automation of its process, therefore, has been required. One of the most promising polishing technologies is Field-assisted Fine Finishing (FFF). In this study, an Electro-rheological Gel (ERG) polishing pad with one-sided patterned electrodes is developed to polish insulator materials and, moreover, a novel electric-field-assisted polishing technology for glass polishing is proposed applying this pad. The ERG polishing pad can change the polishing performance according to applied electric field due to “electro-adhesion effect”. Results of several polishing tests show that the performance of polishing a blue glass can be controlled by applying electric field to the ERG pad.

Large amount of cutting oil consumption is one of the issues for environment. The Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) technique has been applied to the near-dry cutting process. However, MQL technique generates oil mist which is harmful to the working environment and the health of factory workers. In this study, a new lubrication system called Direct Oil Shot Lubrication System (DOS) was developed and applied to milling processes. The performances of DOS technique was evaluated by measuring the floating oil mist and carrying out the cutting tests. The amount of floating oil mist of DOS system was considerably reduced compared to the MQL. The behavior of small oil drops supplied from DOS nozzle to cutting edge was analyzed by means of a high speed video observation, and the optimum setting for DOS was obtained. The experimental result shows developed DOS system realized the smaller density of oil mist floating than the MQL technique while the DOS attained the almost same lubrication effect in milling process as the MQL technique.