Papers by Author: Bo Wang

Abstract: In this paper, micro tensile method was combined with micro bridge dynamic test method as a new testing method for mechanics performance to be put forward, and a novel testing system for mechanics properties of the thin-walled micro components was established. The micro testing specimen were designed and manufactured. And related mechanics performance tests were carried on to verify the feasibility and reliability of the test system. The experimental results show that displacements of the testing system are measured with 0.01μm resolution and axial loads are measured with 0.005N resolution.

Abstract: Silicon carbide (SiC) is widely used in terrestrial and space applications because of its good mechanical, thermal and optical properties. Nevertheless, traditional grinding and polishing technologies cannot meet the machining requirements due to the high hardness and brittleness. In this paper, Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) is utilized to process the SiC optics. The effects of different processing recipes on the removal rate and temperature are investigated. The results show that the removal rate almost keeps stable with processing time and changes with the flow rate of plasma gas, reaction gas, the ratio of CF₄/O₂ and the power. The input power and processing time are the two main influence factors on the processing temperature.

Abstract: In this paper, a five-axis ultra precision machine tool for fabrication of microstructured surfaces is presented. This machine consists of two rotary axes (C&B) and three linear axes (X&Y&Z). High precision aerostatic bearing and torque motor are adopted in C axis (main spindle) and B axis. X axis and Z axis use the hydrostatic guideway and are driven by linear motors. Y axis is driven by torque motor and precision ball screw. This machine is able to realize multiple processing methods, including ultra precision diamond turning, ultra precision milling, fly-cutting, fast tool servo and slow tool servo diamond turning.Furthermore, a large number of experiment researches are carried out. Some typical microstructure surfaces are manufactured, for sinusoidal grid surface, the surface roughness Ra is 11.9nm, which is machined by slow tool servo diamond turning. Micro pyramid array surface is fabricated by using fly-cutting, which performs well both in the profile accuracy and the repeatability. These experiment researches prove that this ultra precision machine is superior in accuracy and system reliability.

Abstract: Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Processing (APPP) of silicon-based optics and wafers is a form of chemical etching technology developed in recent years. The material removal rate is comparable to those of conventional mechanical processing methods in precision fabrication. Moreover, there is no mechanical contact or physical loading on the substrate surface, hence no surface or sub-surface damages are induced. Inductively coupled plasma is one realization of APPP. In this work, inductively coupled plasma torch is used to generate plasma and excite etchant particles at atmospheric pressure. These active particles then diffused to the workpiece surface, react with its atoms to form volatile products. The activity and number of particles in plasma are influenced by processing parameters such as input power, distance between nozzle and substrate surface, flow rate of plasma gas argon and precursor gas CF₄. These factors have various impacts on material removal rate. Processing experiments are conducted on fused silica to investigate the parameters’ influences on material removal rate. The basic interaction between substrate surface and plasma is illustrated, then the relationships between processing parameters and material removal rate are analyzed. From the experiments some trends are derived. Material removal rate rises with the increase of power and flow rate of CF₄, whereas decreases with the increase of processing distance, etc. The etching footprint is proved to be near Gaussian-shaped and believed to have high potential for deterministic surface processing.

Abstract: The Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet (APPJ) is an innovative technology in advanced optics manufacturing; it is a non-contact precision machining method based on the chemical reaction between a reactive neutral radical generated by the plasma and substrate surface atoms for atom-scale material removal. The APPJ involves a complicated process; therefore, the controllability of the technical process was investigated to describe the accuracy of machining efficiency that is the uniformity and repeatability for machining systems, the linearity relation between the removal rates and dwell time. Moreover, the experimental result of the fused quartz removal function variation trend with different processing parameters was discussed. The results of experimentation indicate that the APPJ method has good repeatability within a short dwell time, the removal depth increases with the dwell time and a linearity relation seems appropriate, and the radio frequency (RF) power and the flux of assistant gas oxygen have a great influence on removal efficiency. However, the removal rate remains stable under small perturbation of flux of plasma gas He and reactive gas SF₆. And the surface roughness is improved from Ra 9.3nm to Ra 3.7nm.

Abstract: Current requirements for producing highly precise and ultra-smooth micro structured surfaces of small parts are proposed in certain situations. The following question arises: how to make a highly precise and ultra-smooth micro-structured surface with high efficiency and low cost Novel desktop lapping and polishing devices should be developed to satisfy these requirements. In order to improve the surface topography and remove the surface damaged layer of a highly precise and ultra-smooth micro thin-walled structure after milling with the width of 150 μm and the depth of 10 μm, a novel lapping desktop device is designed and developed. There are two key points in the design of the lapping desktop device: one is the vertical coupled macro-micro movement axis; the other is the fixture with a thin and flexible hinge structure, which has the capability of measuring both force and displacement as a double-feedback sensor to control both the micro lapping force and the depth of lapping. The experimental results show that the surface topography of the micro thin-walled structured surface is much improved after lapping, and that the three-dimensional surface roughness decreased from 329 nm to 82.2 nm.

Abstract: Optics with free form surface can be achieve special imaging effects and reduce component amounts in optical systems. However, it is difficulty to fabricate high accuracy, damage-free optical surface with free form surfaces by conventional method. Atmospheric plasma machining is a non-contact chemical processing method which can fabricate optics without damaged layer. Numerical controlled atmospheric pressure plasma machining (NC-APPM) method is proposed to machine optical free form surfaces. A new atmospheric pressure plasma jet generator was designed to get Gaussian rotational symmetry removal spot and the spot maximum diameter is 1.5mm. Base on dwelling time algorithm, a sinusoidal wave structure, the pitch 2mm and the amplitude 500 nm, is fabricated on a pre-polished flat silica quartz surface using three-axis numerically controlled machine made by ourselves. The result shows that the amplitude error is 59 nm compare to the expectation value surfaces using numerical controlled atmospheric plasma machining method.

Abstract: To meet the requirement for the machining of the ultra-precision, ultra-smooth and micro-structure surface, an ultra-precision three axes micro milling machine was developed with the positioning accuracy better than ±0.25μm and the repetitive positioning accuracy better than ±0.2μm of all the three axes. The machine is proved to achieve the nanometer scale step response. Through milling experiments with micro-diameter tungsten carbide milling tool, the cutting performance has been further proved: the milling accuracy of 50μm-high step on the workpiece of aluminum alloy is better than ±0.3μm; and the 3D surface of pure copper workpiece is as smooth as mirror, with a roughness reaching 40nm. At last, the thin-walled structure of 10μm thickness on the workpiece of aluminum alloy is milled.

Abstract: To manufacture the micro parts or micro structures effectively and precisely, a high precision 3-axis micro milling machine is built. All the three axis are driven by linear piezoelectric ultrasonic motors and the slides are supported by cross-roller guide. Investigations are firstly made to analyze the impact of the non-linear characteristics in the servo mechanism on the performance of the servo system. To achieve the positioning and tracking accuracy at sub-micrometer and micrometer level respectively, on one hand, a optical linear encoder with the resolution of 50nm is applied to close the control loop and a high performance DSP based motion control card is used to carried out the reference command. On the other hand, sophisticated control and compensation strategies are also implemented to overcome the non-linear characteristics in the servo system. Positioning and tracking experiments show that, with this well-tuned control system, the positioning and tracking accuracy are ±0.5μm and ±2.4μm respectively. Using this machine, a micro part with 5μm thin-walled structure is machined successfully.

Abstract: As there are always certain defects on the final surface of large-scale lightweight mirrors, which are formed in traditional mechanical polishing process, such as microcracks, lattice disturbances, plastic deformation, and so on, an atmospheric pressure plasma polishing method is a good solution to this problem. As a key component, the design of the capacitance coupling atmospheric pressure radio-frequency plasma torch is introduced. The designed torch uses water cooled coaxial aluminium electrodes with special treatment to avoid arcing between them. In normal machining process, the mixture of reaction gas and plasma gas with optimum ratio is input into the plasma torch. Then, excited by radio-frequency power, reaction gas is ionized in the plasma so as to create high density and energy reactive radicals under atmospheric pressure. The radicals cause chemical reactions with the atoms on the part surface, which performs an effective atomscale removal process. As the machining process is chemical in nature, this method avoids surface/subsurface defects mentioned above. Furthermore, initial experiment data analysis has proved that the atmospheric pressure plasma polishing method is effective and reliable, as well as demonstrates the validity of the designed plasma torch.