Grinding process for beveling and lapping operations in lens manufacturing

A grinding process that uses loose abrasives for the beveling of lenses is presented. Determination of the parameters of grinding tools with loose abr asives for beveling applications with various optical elements is discussed . The process of grinding with loose abrasives for a lapping operation is a nalyzed by examination of the influence of optical glass material parameter s on material removal and surface roughness for lens manufacturing conditio ns. The model established for this analysis uses the concept of lateral fra cture, which is based on removal of optical glass material by rolling abras ive particles. The particles remove material by lateral cracking. The abras ive mineral Barton Garnet was used in the lapping experiments. Under specif ic large-diameter lens manufacturing conditions, lapping time values at the conventional removal depth have been obtained for various optical glasses. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America.