Reuse and Recycle of Ceria Glass Abrasives

氧化铈磨料广泛应用于光学玻璃产品的精细抛光工艺中。我们发现，通过冻结和解冻用过的泥浆，磨料颗粒会聚集在一起形成集合体。结果表明，可以通过测量冻结过程中料浆的温度来监测集料的形成。随着冻结速度的增加，骨料的尺寸减小，因此，可以通过冻结条件来控制骨料的尺寸。用过的泥浆中的玻璃成分有助于骨料的形成。在生产规模的抛光机上进行的抛光试验证明，回收的磨料具有足够的抛光性能。

Cerium-oxide abrasive is widely used in fine polishing processes of optical glass products. We have discovered that the abrasive particulates agglomerated and formed aggregates by freezing and thawing the used slurry. It was found that the aggregate formation can be monitored by measuring the slurry temperature during freezing. The aggregate size decreased with increasing the rate of freezing, therefore, the size can be controlled by the freezing conditions. The aggregate formation was aided by glass components in the used slurry. It was proved by polishing test using a production-scale polishing machine that the recovered abrasive had sufficient polishing performance.