Title: Fabrication of arbitrary precision micro profiles by nano-grinding

Authors: Gareth E. Milton; Jay Katupitiya

Addresses: School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia. ' School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia

Abstract: A multi-axis machine tool and a control architecture that can be used to machine flat or concave axisymmetric or non-axisymmetric micro profiles on micro-scale components is presented. Using this system, the micro profiles can be produced to exact specifications within tolerances. The motivation is to exploit the precision of mechanical motion in conventional machining set ups to our advantage in producing high precision three-dimensional micro profiles. The machine is built by combining a suite of micro and nano stages together with a number of other high precision positioning devices. This paper describes both the machine architecture and the control architecture. The specific micro component used in this work is the tip of a 125 µm diameter optical fibre made out of silica glass. Grinding parameters published in the literature have been used to achieve nano-grinding of silica glass in ductile mode. The emphasis in this work is on achieving the precision of the micro profile. Results include the images of the profiles created and the comparisons of measured and specified profiles.

Keywords: precision microprofiles; micro-lenses; nanogrinding; nanomanufacturing; nanotechnology; machine tool design; machine tool control; high precision positioning; optical fibre; silica glass.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNM.2012.047030

International Journal of Nanomanufacturing, 2012 Vol.8 No.3, pp.231 - 246

Received: 24 Oct 2011
Accepted: 01 Dec 2011
Published online: 21 Aug 2014 *

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