Grinding of Toroidal and Cylindrical Surfaces on SiC Using Diamond Grinding Wheels

This paper presents the methods and experimental results for grinding toroidal and cylindrical surfaces made of silicon carbide using diamond grinding wheels and an inexpensive CNC machining center. The mirrors were successfully obtained by automatic grinding operations with good shape accuracy, mirror surface finish, and low roughness heights. The time consumed in the process is very short. Industrial manufacture of lenses usually involves three operations — grinding without dressing, lapping, and polishing. In the laboratory studies, however, mirrors and lenses have been manufactured only with grinding process, because of 100% ductile-mode material removal in grinding with dressing. These processes were individually evaluated for surface roughness and surface integrity using surface roughness testers and a scanning electron microscope.