Intelligent free-form polishing center with at-line SSD measurement technology

在过去的几年里，光学技术在不同工业分支中的重要性以及对定制和复杂光学元件的需求不断增加。这种部件的制造，例如自由形式或整体元件，与新的挑战有关，并且到目前为止只能通过增加生产时间和成本来实现。这就是为什么我们的工作组的重点之一在于这些复杂光学元件的制造工艺。结合增材制造、激光技术和传统CNC磨削的各种工艺链已经成功开发。但是，到目前为止，还不可能对所得部件进行精确抛光。所要求的用于硬脆材料加工的“智能自由曲面抛光中心”旨在填补这一空白，从而可以访问一系列新的研究课题。该系统的独特之处在于其多功能性，包括多种抛光方法和策略，以及用于详细评估和控制抛光过程中表面下裂纹的在线表面下损伤测量技术。总的来说，该系统有潜力解决从光学制造到测量技术到大数据和人工智能领域的不同研究课题。所附的众多意向书强调了工业和研究合作伙伴对理想研究课题的极大兴趣。

The significance of optical technologies in different industrial branches as well as the need for customized and complex optical elements continuously increased over the last few years. The manufacturing of such componennts, e.g. freeforms or monolithical elements, is linked to new challenges and can up to now only be realized with increased production time and expenses. That is why one focus of our work group lies on manufacturing processes for those complex optical elements. Diverse process chains combining additive manufacturing, laser technologies and conventional CNC-grinding have already been successfully developed. But, so far, no precision polishing of the resulting components was possible. The requested “intelligent freeform-polishing center” for the processing of hard and brittle materials seeks to fill this gap, making accessible a range of new research topics. The system is unique in its multi-functionality with regard to its multiple polishing methods and -strategies as well as the included at-line subsurface damage measurement technology for the detailed evaluation and control of subsurface cracks in the polishing process. Overall, the system has the potential to address different research topics spanning from optics manufacturing over measurement technology to areas of Big Data and AI. A great interest in the aspired research topics from both industrial and research partners is underlined by the numerous LOIs attached.