On the polishing of glass, particularly the precision polishing of optical surfaces

Abstract

In this survey, the views on the mechanism of the polishing of glass to be found in the literature are only dealt with briefly, because extensive summarizing evaluations of reports dealing with the problem are available. The main objective of this paper is the investigation of the causes of hitherto differing views on the processes occurring during the polishing of glass, despite the extensive literature which exists in over 500 publications. The causes for the differing interpretations of the polishing mechanisms result from an incorrect evaluation of the properties of the polishing compounds and of the polishing parameters during precision polishing. Therefrom and from the author's long-term investigations of the properties of model polishing compounds and of the polishing processes with these model polishing compounds under optical production conditions a generally valid theory of the polishing of optical media was developed. This idea — named "tribochemical friction-wear polishing theory" — is totally different from hypotheses presented up to now. The present paper tries to verify the correctness of the new theory.