doi:10.3850/978-981-07-0319-6_228

ABSTRACT

Large volume production of low-cost glass lenses can be obtained by precision glass moulding, where a glass preform of suitable geometry is pressed between two optical quality mould surfaces in precisely controlled conditions. Wafer based glass moulding allows simultaneous moulding of hundreds of lenses on a flat polished glass wafer in a single pressing step, thereby enhancing the productivity of the glass moulding process. Moulds containing hundreds of cavities require a long machining time when obtained by grinding. Use of diamond milling is preferable as it reduces drastically the machining time and cost. Conventional glass moulding mould solutions are based on the use of either steel or tungsten carbide as mould materials, which do not exhibit large thermal expansion coefficient nor they are diamond machinable. This paper addresses the issue of tooling for wafer based precision glass moulding by presenting an experimental investigation on a potential alternative solution to the generation of glass moulding moulds based on indirect tooling process chains.

Keywords: Glass moulding, Tooling.

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