Alberto Cordero-Dávila

Edge effects with the Preston equation for a circular tool and workpiece

In a polishing process the wear is greater at the edge when the tool extends beyond the border of the workpiece. To explain this effect, we propose a new model in which the pressure is higher at the edge. This model is applied to the case of a circular tool that polishes a circular workpiece. Our model correctly predicts that a greater amount of material is removed from the edge of the workpiece.

Ronchi and Hartmann tests with the same mathematical theory.

A common mathematical model is established for the Ronchi and Hartmann tests and for interpretation of the Ronchigrams as level curves of the components of the transversal aberrations. With the same point of view, a Hartmanngram is regarded as two 90 degrees crossed null Ronchi gratings. A simple and direct method is also developed for calculating Ronchigrams for the cases of centered and off-axis conic sections with the point light source at any location.

Exact calculation of the circle of least confusion of a rotationally symmetric mirror

The position and dimensions of the circle of least confusion (CLC) on axis for a lensless Schmidt camera telescope operating at F(0.82) are calculated. The camera is to be used in the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Our analysis was developed for an aspherical mirror for any on-axis position of the point light source. Our technique uses the intersection of the marginal ray from one side of the aperture with the caustic produced by the intermediate rays from the opposite side of the aperture to locate the CLC.

Conic that best fits an off-axis conic section

To help in the fabrication of off-axis conic sections, we present a method to approximate this off-axis section by an on-axis conic centered on the portion desired. This method is based on the method of continuum least squares to obtain the vertex’s curvature and conic constant of the fitted conic on-axis, given the curvature at the vertex and the conic constant of the parent conic from where we want the section and the size of that section. Simple analytic expressions for the curvature and conic constant are derived in terms of the parameters of the off-axis section.

Edge effects with Preston equation

In the polishing process, the wear tends to be greater when the tool extends beyond the edge of the workpiece. A linear pressure distribution (between the tool and the workpiece) has been used to explain this effect, however, this model also can predict negative pressures. This could mean that material is deposited instead of being removed. We present a new pressure distribution proposal, which presents like a skin effect. This means that the pressure is significantly higher at the border points than at internal points of the glass. With this model the material removal at the border points is increased considerably since, according to Preston, the wear is proportional to the pressure. This pressure distribution model is applied to calculate the wear produced by a square tool on a glass border moving along straight lines.

Null Hartmann and Ronchi-Hartmann tests.

Assuming the Ronchi and the Hartmann tests to be null tests, we were able to design special screens for each test that produce aligned straight fringes and a square array for the observed patterns. It also became clear that the screen filter and observing planes for both tests can be interchanged.

Polynomial fitting of interferograms with Gaussian errors on fringe coordinates. I: Computer simulations

A series of simulations were made for an ideal Twyman-Green interferogram of equally spaced straight fringes having tilt only about x. It was found that fitting polynomials to the interferometric data resulted in biased estimates of some of the fitting coefficients to the optical path difference. The acceptance of the Seidel aberrations grows with the noise level and diminishes when the number of fringes is increased.

Correction of the Preston equation for low speeds

According to Preston [J. Soc. Glass Technol. 11, 214 (1927)], the wear on a glass point in the polishing process is proportional to the work given by frictional force between glass and tool. He supposed that the frictional coefficient is a constant value. To verify this hypothesis, we measured the dragging forces applied to a tool as a function of the relative speed between a rotating glass and the tool center. To reproduce these experimental results, it was necessary to propose a new model, for which the frictional coefficient has a Gaussian dependence with relative speed. Therefore the wearing Preston equation has to be modified in order to include the frictional coefficient as a function of the relative speed.

Experimental results and wear predictions of petal tools that freely rotate

It is difficult to calculate the wear produced by free-pinned tools because their angular movement is not entirely predictable. We analyze the wear produced with free-pinned ring tools, using both simulations and experiments. We conclude that the wear of an incomplete ring is directly proportional to the rings angular size, independently of the mean radius of the ring. We present an algorithm for calculation of the wear produced by free-pinned petal tools, as they can be considered a linear combination of incomplete free-pinned ring tools. Finally, we apply this result to the enhancement of a defective flat surface and to making a concave spheric surface.

Calculating petal tools by using genetic algorithms

To pass from a spherical surface to a conic one, it is possible to use a petal tool or a small solid tool that is placed at different time intervals at several radial zones of the glass. Genetic algorithms are applied to calculate the angular sizes of the incomplete annular tools that make up the petal tools. We also present the desired wear results carried out with the petal tool that was designed on the basis of the dwell times of complete annular tools. These dwell times are calculated by using base functions that are generated with annular tools and by applying the genetic algorithms.