CAREER: Economically Feasible Net Shape Manufacturing of Macro and Micro Glass Optics

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This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant provides funding for the principal investigator to seek fundamental understanding of the glass molding process by integrating precision mold making, heat transfer and rheological modeling of glass materials. Experiments using a lab-scale glass molding apparatus and a commercial glass molding machine will be conducted to study the glass molding process and also to validate the numerical modeling of the glass molding process to determine the optimal optical design, molding temperature, molding speed and annealing rate. The proposed research will be integrated with the principal investigators academic activities in teaching manufacturing courses. The research activities will be exciting and accessible to graduate and undergraduate students, thereby providing a compelling classroom experience through demonstrations and presentations.If successful, the results of this research will lead to improvement in design of the glass molding process. The primary goal of this research is to determine optimal glass molding parameters that will satisfy pre-defined design criteria for both macro and micro optical elements thus resulting in lower cost and high quality products. The proposed process is a net shape, high volume manufacturing method therefore it allows optical designers to design compact optical systems that were not available before. Moreover, because the use of grinding fluids and polishing compounds is eliminated, glass molding is an environmentally conscious and operator friendly process. The results from the proposed research can be integrated in optical design, fabrication and assembly technology therefore providing US companies a competitive edge and can also lead to innovations in a range of areas from telecom to biomedical applications. The cooperation between Ohio State and leading international institutions in ultraprecision manufacturing research and education will have a profound influence on the long term progress in precision engineering for our nation.