Abstract
Previous work demonstrated that polishing machines can have very different vibration signatures while operating under comparable conditions. Fused silica samples polished on two such machines had different material removal rates and variations in the final surface finishes, thus confirming that process vibrations have an impact on the polishing outcomes. As it is very difficult to separate the roles of vibration frequency bandwidth and amplitude using actual polishing machines, a specifically designed bench top tester with the ability to control frequency input and amplitude was fabricated and implemented to evaluate the role of each on polishing metrics. Testing at 0.5 and 8 kHz with two different vibration amplitudes, 0.5 micron and 0.1 micron, produced different material removal rates whereby the higher frequency and amplitude vibrations provided material removal rates nearly three times higher than when no vibrations were input into the system.
© 2012 Optical Society of America
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