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

学院早期职业发展(Career)补助金为首席研究员提供资金，通过整合玻璃材料的精密模具制造、热传递和流变学建模来寻求对玻璃成型过程的基本了解。使用实验室规模的玻璃成型装置和商用玻璃成型机进行实验，研究玻璃成型过程，并验证玻璃成型过程的数值模拟，以确定最佳的光学设计、成型温度、成型速度和退火率。拟议的研究将与主要研究人员在教学制造课程中的学术活动相结合。研究活动对研究生和本科生来说将是令人兴奋和容易接触的，从而通过演示和演示提供引人注目的课堂体验。如果成功，这项研究的结果将有助于改进玻璃成型工艺的设计。这项研究的主要目标是确定最优的玻璃成型参数，以满足预定义的宏微光学元件设计标准，从而产生低成本和高质量的产品。所提出的工艺是一种净形状、大容量的制造方法，因此它允许光学设计者设计以前没有的紧凑型光学系统。此外，由于消除了磨削液和抛光化合物的使用，玻璃成型是一种环保和操作员友好的工艺。拟议中的研究结果可以整合到光学设计、制造和组装技术中，从而为美国公司提供竞争优势，还可以在从电信到生物医学应用的一系列领域带来创新。俄亥俄州立大学与领先的国际机构在超精密制造、研究和教育方面的合作将对我国精密工程的长期进步产生深远影响。

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.