A new grinding method for aspheric ceramic mirrors

This paper reports the development of an ultra-precise grinding system based on a new grinding technique called the ''Arc Envelope Grinding Method (AEGM)'', which is used for grinding aspheric ceramic mirrors, increases both wheel life and grinding performance, and significantly decreases total production costs. The necessary instrumentation and control system of our new instrument that utilizes AEGM have been designed and built. The tool path was calculated on a supercomputer, and the CNC program generation and tool path compensation were performed on a PC linked to the same supercomputer. Using this grinding system, aspheric mirrors of glass and silicon carbide, 100 mm in diameter, were successfully ground. after the first grinding (without any compensation) was less than 1.8 mu m, and the roughness was R(max) = 82 nm (R(s) = 10 nm).