Development of an ultraprecision shaping machine for manufacturing of Stavax lens molds

The production of high-precision aspheric microlenses has become increasingly difficult due to an increase in the complexity of the profile, the decrease in the lens’ size, and the demand for tighter tolerances. Machines built to fabricate these lenses generally include several expensive components due to the stringent stiffness, resolution, and bandwidth requirements necessary for proper machining. This thesis deals with reducing the cost of production by building an ultraprecision shaping machine that is comprised of three reasonably priced custom made axes that meet the requirements needed for ultraprecision machining. These three axes are (1) a flexure-based, single DOF axis driven by a voice coil actuator, (2) an inchworm axis driven by an assembly of five piezoelectric actuators, and (3) a long range fast tool servo driven by a large piezoelectric actuator. These three axes were developed individually to meet a set of requirements determined necessary for the machining of a microlens mold array in Stavax, a stainless steel variant. Each axis was designed such that it would not fail due to fatigue failure, was capable of achieving a high resolution ( 200 N/µm). The X-axis needed a range greater than 250 µm, the Y-axis needed a range greater than 3 mm, and the Z-axis needed a range greater than 35 µm. The X-axis needed to be capable of following a low frequency sine wave, while the Z-axis needed to be capable of following high frequency wave forms (200 Hz). Simulations were performed to determine if the designs would meet all the requirements set. All the designed axes have met the requirements, but only the X- and Y-axes have been manufactured for testing. Preliminary testing has shown that the X-axis has at least a stiffness of 60 N/µm in both the degrees of constraint. Movement in the parasitic directions while the axis was being actuated was also tested and showed that the only movement in the parasitic directions is when the X-axis crosses the zero point. Most likely, this is due to the electronics being used, which are also making it difficult to determine the full range of the axis and close the loop. Testing on the Y-axis has revealed that it has a stiffness of at least 125 N/µm in the direction of motion and stiffnesses between 60 N/µm and 100 N/µm in the degrees of constraint. The axis is capable of running at a speed of 150 µm/s, which is only limited by the amplifiers being used. Closed loop testing has shown that the axis is capable of 10 nm steps