A fabricação de ultraprecisão - com suas dimensões atingindo níveis submicrométricos - tem-se mostrado um campo de trabalho que exige combinação do que há de mais avançado nas áreas de materiais, metrologia e controle. Para alcançar tais níveis de precisão, é necessário que se garanta excelente desempenho de cada um dos componentes e/ou subsistemas das máquinas. Sendo o par tribológico mancal - eixo-árvore elemento vital para o desempenho de uma máquina ferramenta, e baseado em estudos recentes que mostram que mancais convencionais de rolamento estão rapidamente atingindo seu limite, o estudo dos mancais pressurizados externamente se impõe. Com a crescente demanda por rigidez e precisão de giro, tais mancais tem-se tornado solução convencional ao contrário de condição especial. Os mancais aerostáticos, em particular, apresentam alta precisão de giro, baixa geração de calor, ausência de desgaste, alto amortecimento e limpeza. Essas características os tornam bastante atrativos em ambientes de fabricação de ultraprecisão, especialmente na indústria óptica e eletrônica, como por exemplo, na fabricação de semicondutores. O presente trabalho objetiva a comparação entre os comportamentos de dois mancais aerostáticos, com restritor do tipo orifício e com material cerâmico poroso, em relação as capacidades de carga e rigidez. Os resultados indicam a superioridade do mancal com restritor poroso quanto a capacidade de carga e também em relação à rigidez. / Ultra-precision machining - whose dimensions can reach sub-micrometric levels - has been shown to be an area of work requiring a combination of the best of materials, metrology and control. To achieve such accuracy levels, it is necessary to guarantee excellent performance of every component and/or machine subsystems. Being the tribological associated pair bearing/spindle a vital element for the performance of a machine tool, and based on recent researches that show that rolling bearings are reaching their limit very quickly, there has been an increasing demand for aerostatic bearings. These present good characteristics of stiffness, radial and axial accuracy, low heating generation, wear resistance and cleanliness. These features make them quite attractive in ultra-precision manufacturing environments, specially in the optics and electronics industries, such as in the manufacturing of semiconductors. The present work compares the stiffness and load carrying capacity of orifice restrictor and porous ceramic aerostatic bearings. The results show the superiority of porous aerostatic bearings as to loading capacity as well stiffness.

A fabricação de ultraprecisão - com suas dimensões atingindo níveis submicrométricos - tem-se mostrado um campo de trabalho que exige combinação do que há de mais avançado nas áreas de materiais, metrologia e controle. Para alcançar tais níveis de precisão, é necessário que se garanta excelente desempenho de cada um dos componentes e/ou subsistemas das máquinas. Sendo o par tribológico mancal - eixo-árvore elemento vital para o desempenho de uma máquina ferramenta, e baseado em estudos recentes que mostram que mancais convencionais de rolamento estão rapidamente atingindo seu limite, o estudo dos mancais pressurizados externamente se impõe. Com a crescente demanda por rigidez e precisão de giro, tais mancais tem-se tornado solução convencional ao contrário de condição especial. Os mancais aerostáticos, em particular, apresentam alta precisão de giro, baixa geração de calor, ausência de desgaste, alto amortecimento e limpeza. Essas características os tornam bastante atrativos em ambientes de fabricação de ultraprecisão, especialmente na indústria óptica e eletrônica, como por exemplo, na fabricação de semicondutores. O presente trabalho objetiva a comparação entre os comportamentos de dois mancais aerostáticos, com restritor do tipo orifício e com material cerâmico poroso, em relação as capacidades de carga e rigidez. Os resultados indicam a superioridade do mancal com restritor poroso quanto a capacidade de carga e também em relação à rigidez. / Ultra-precision machining - whose dimensions can reach sub-micrometric levels - has been shown to be an area of work requiring a combination of the best of materials, metrology and control. To achieve such accuracy levels, it is necessary to guarantee excellent performance of every component and/or machine subsystems. Being the tribological associated pair bearing/spindle a vital element for the performance of a machine tool, and based on recent researches that show that rolling bearings are reaching their limit very quickly, there has been an increasing demand for aerostatic bearings. These present good characteristics of stiffness, radial and axial accuracy, low heating generation, wear resistance and cleanliness. These features make them quite attractive in ultra-precision manufacturing environments, specially in the optics and electronics industries, such as in the manufacturing of semiconductors. The present work compares the stiffness and load carrying capacity of orifice restrictor and porous ceramic aerostatic bearings. The results show the superiority of porous aerostatic bearings as to loading capacity as well stiffness.

<p> High-end optical grade applications would benefit greatly from the unique mechanical and chemical properties of titanium alloys. However, the standard process of manufacturing optical components has not been explored in depth for titanium alloys. </p> <p> Thus the focus of this work was to extend ultra precision machining technology to produce optical grade surfaces on titanium components. An optical surface is characterized by surface roughness less than 10nm R_rms which are typically produced with single crystal diamond tools having a cutting edge radius on the order of 50-100 nm. A cutting speed of 60m/min, feed rate of 1.5 µm/ rev and depth of cut of 2 µm, was identified to achieve the surface finish target, but the practical limitation of this process was still with tool life and the rapid degradation of surface finish over time. </p> <p> This was attributed to the adhesion of titanium material on the tool that resulted in material pull out and side-flow during machining. Results obtained from the characterization of the tool and workpiece led to the identification of graphitization as the initial wear mechanism. As the cutting edge rounds-off due to graphitization, the rate of adhesion of the workpiece material onto the tool increased. For this reason solutions were explored that would reduce the graphitization process and delay the onset of intense adhension. </p> <p> Thus a coating technology involving Perfluoro Polyether (PFPE) was chosen. Tribometer analysis under a load of 500N and temperature of 450ºC between the uncoated and PFPE coated diamond tools and titanium pins showed a remarkable reduction in COF from 0.275 to 0.05. A significant enhancement in tool life and surface quality was also achieved in single point diamond turning (SPDT) of titanium alloys using PFPE coated diamond tools. Tool life was based on an assessment of the cutting length achieved before the surface roughness exceeded the targeted value of 10 nm R_rms and it improved from 1.25 km and 5.1 km with PFPE coated tools. </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Germanium is a brittle semi-metal, used for lenses and windows in Thermal Imaging Systems since it transmits infrared energy in the 2 &micro / m - 12 &micro / m wavelength range at peak. In this thesis study, polycrystalline diamond is used as cutting tool material to machine germanium. Diamond is the hardest, most abrasion-resistant material and polycrystalline diamond is produced by compacting small diamond particles under high pressure and temperature conditions, which results more homogeneous, improved strength and a durable material. However, slightly reduced hardness is obtained when compared with natural diamond. Different from finish cutting, rough cutting, performed before finishing, is used to remove most of the work-piece material. During rough cutting, surface roughness is still an important concern, since it affects the finishing operations. Roughness of the surface of product is affected by a number of factors such as cutting speed, depth of cut, feed rate as cutting parameters, and also rake angle as tool geometry parameter. In the thesis, the optimum cutting and tool geometry parameters are investigated by experimental studies for rough cutting of germanium with polycrystalline diamond tools. Single Point Diamond Turning Machine is used for rough cutting, and the roughness values of the optical surfaces are measured by White Light Interferometer. Experiments are designed by making use of &ldquo / Full Factorial&rdquo / and &ldquo / Box-Behnken&rdquo / design methods at different levels considering cutting parameters as cutting speed, depth of cut, feed rate and tool geometry parameter as rake angle.

Este trabalho apresenta o estudo da usinabilidade do carbeto de tungstênio utilizando ferramenta de ponta única de diamante em máquina-ferramenta de ultraprecisão, em função de suas características de dureza e potencial uso para a fabricação de micromoldes. O carbeto de tungstênio foi submetido a testes de usinagem para a determinação dos parâmetros e condições de corte para a obtenção do regime dúctil. Com base nos resultados experimentais, concluiu-se que, para os avanços da ordem de 1 micrômetro/revolução, a profundidade de corte (AP) não influencia significativamente no resultado de rugosidade, e para avanços da ordem de 3 micrômetros, observou-se a formação de trincas na superfície usinada. Além disso, para profundidades de corte maiores que 2 micrômetros as ferramentas começaram a apresentar lascamento. Para avanços da ordem de 3 micrômetro/revolução a profundidade de corte influencia com grande significância no resultado de rugosidade. O torneamento do carbeto de tungstênio usando ferramenta de diamante mostrou-se uma opção viável à produção de superfícies em termos de qualidade óptica, porém, devido à alta dureza deste material (aproximadamente 4000HV) o torneamento mostrou ser um processo com condições limitadas para a produção em série de componentes em função da baixa taxa de remoção de material permitida. É possível que a retificação possa apresentar taxas de remoção maiores, mesmo assim garantindo a qualidade superficial atingida pelo torneamento, ou ainda, a retificação possa ser usada como um processo no desbaste do carbeto de tungstênio seguido do torneamento de ultraprecisão como a opção viável a produção em série de peças. Portanto, para obtenção de uma superfície de carbeto de tungstênio sem danos e com acabamentos da ordem de 10 nm, a profundidade e avanço não devem ser superiores a 2,00 \'mü\'micrômetros e 1,00 \'mü\'micrômetro/revolução, respectivamente, usando uma ferramenta de diamante nova com ângulo de saída 0 ou - 25 graus e uma máquina-ferramenta de alta precisão. / The single point diamond turning of the Tungsten Carbide is presented. The motivation for this study is the material´s high hardness and potential application for micromolds. A Tungsten Carbide sample was subjected to tests for determination of cutting parameters to achieve the ductile regime of material removal. Based on experimental results it was concluded that for the feedrate of the order of 1 \'mü\'m/revolution, the depth of cut did not affect significantly the surface roughness and for federates of the order of 3 \'mü\'m/revolution, the dept of cut influenced results of roughness greatly. Moreover chipping of the cutting edge occurs for depths of cut of 2 \'mü\'m. The diamond machining of tungsten carbide tool using diamond proved to be a viable option for the production of surfaces in terms of optical quality, but due to the high hardness of this material (approximately 4000HV) showed to be limited for the production of components due to the low material removal rate. It is possible that the precision griding may provide higher material removal rates along with the acceptable surface quality. Therefore, to obtain a damage free surface in tungsten carbide with surface finishe in the order of 10 nm, cutting depth and feedrate should be smaller than 2,00 \'mü\'m and 1,00 \'mü\'m/revolution, respectively, using a new diamond tool with rake angle of 0 or - 25 degrees and precision high stiffness machine tool.

Este trabalho apresenta o estudo da usinabilidade do carbeto de tungstênio utilizando ferramenta de ponta única de diamante em máquina-ferramenta de ultraprecisão, em função de suas características de dureza e potencial uso para a fabricação de micromoldes. O carbeto de tungstênio foi submetido a testes de usinagem para a determinação dos parâmetros e condições de corte para a obtenção do regime dúctil. Com base nos resultados experimentais, concluiu-se que, para os avanços da ordem de 1 micrômetro/revolução, a profundidade de corte (AP) não influencia significativamente no resultado de rugosidade, e para avanços da ordem de 3 micrômetros, observou-se a formação de trincas na superfície usinada. Além disso, para profundidades de corte maiores que 2 micrômetros as ferramentas começaram a apresentar lascamento. Para avanços da ordem de 3 micrômetro/revolução a profundidade de corte influencia com grande significância no resultado de rugosidade. O torneamento do carbeto de tungstênio usando ferramenta de diamante mostrou-se uma opção viável à produção de superfícies em termos de qualidade óptica, porém, devido à alta dureza deste material (aproximadamente 4000HV) o torneamento mostrou ser um processo com condições limitadas para a produção em série de componentes em função da baixa taxa de remoção de material permitida. É possível que a retificação possa apresentar taxas de remoção maiores, mesmo assim garantindo a qualidade superficial atingida pelo torneamento, ou ainda, a retificação possa ser usada como um processo no desbaste do carbeto de tungstênio seguido do torneamento de ultraprecisão como a opção viável a produção em série de peças. Portanto, para obtenção de uma superfície de carbeto de tungstênio sem danos e com acabamentos da ordem de 10 nm, a profundidade e avanço não devem ser superiores a 2,00 \'mü\'micrômetros e 1,00 \'mü\'micrômetro/revolução, respectivamente, usando uma ferramenta de diamante nova com ângulo de saída 0 ou - 25 graus e uma máquina-ferramenta de alta precisão. / The single point diamond turning of the Tungsten Carbide is presented. The motivation for this study is the material´s high hardness and potential application for micromolds. A Tungsten Carbide sample was subjected to tests for determination of cutting parameters to achieve the ductile regime of material removal. Based on experimental results it was concluded that for the feedrate of the order of 1 \'mü\'m/revolution, the depth of cut did not affect significantly the surface roughness and for federates of the order of 3 \'mü\'m/revolution, the dept of cut influenced results of roughness greatly. Moreover chipping of the cutting edge occurs for depths of cut of 2 \'mü\'m. The diamond machining of tungsten carbide tool using diamond proved to be a viable option for the production of surfaces in terms of optical quality, but due to the high hardness of this material (approximately 4000HV) showed to be limited for the production of components due to the low material removal rate. It is possible that the precision griding may provide higher material removal rates along with the acceptable surface quality. Therefore, to obtain a damage free surface in tungsten carbide with surface finishe in the order of 10 nm, cutting depth and feedrate should be smaller than 2,00 \'mü\'m and 1,00 \'mü\'m/revolution, respectively, using a new diamond tool with rake angle of 0 or - 25 degrees and precision high stiffness machine tool.

This thesis is titled "A Framework for Enhancing the Accuracy of Ultra Precision Machining." In this thesis unwanted relative tool / workpiece vibration is identified as a major contributor to workpiece inaccuracy. The phenomenon is studied via in situ vibrational measurements during cutting and also by the analysis of the workpiece surface metrology of ultra precision diamond face turned aluminum 6061-T6. The manifestation of vibrations in the feed and in-feed directions of the workpiece was studied over a broadband of disturbance frequencies. It is found that the waviness error measured on the cut workpiece surface was significantly larger than that caused by the feed marks during cutting. Thus it was established that unwanted relative tool / workpiece vibrations are the dominant source of surface finish error in ultra precision machining. By deriving representative equations in the polar coordinate system, it was found that the vibrational pattern repeats itself, leading to what are referred to in this thesis as surface finish lobes. The surface finish lobes describe the waviness or form error associated with a particular frequency of unwanted relative tool / workpiece vibration, given a particular feed rate and spindle speed. With the surface finish lobes, the study of vibrations is both simplified and made more systematic. Knowing a priori the wavelength range caused by relative tool / workpiece vibration also allows one to extract considerable vibration content information from a small white light interferometry field of view. It was demonstrated analytically that the error caused by relative tool / workpiece vibration is always distinct from the surface roughness caused by the feed rate. It was also shown that the relative tool / workpiece vibration-induced wavelength in the feed direction has a limited and repeating range. Additionally, multiple disturbance frequencies can produce the same error wavelength on the workpiece surface. Since the meaningful error wavelength range is finite given the size of the part and repeating, study then focussed on this small and manageable range of wavelengths. This range of wavelengths in turn encompasses a broadband range of possible disturbance frequencies, due to the repetition described by the surface finish lobes. Over this finite range of wavelengths, for different machining conditions, the magnitude of the waviness error resulting on the cut workpiece surface was compared with the actual relative tool / workpiece vibrational magnitude itself. It was found that several opportunities occur in ultra precision machining to mitigate the vibrational effect on the workpiece surface. The first opportunity depends only on the feed rate and spindle speed. Essentially, it is possible to force the wavelength resulting from an unwanted relative tool / workpiece vibration to a near infinite length, thus eliminating its effect in the workpiece feed direction. Further, for a given disturbance frequency, various speed and feed rate combinations are capable of producing this effect. However, this possibility exists only when a single, dominant and fixed disturbance frequency is present in the process. By considering the tool nose geometry, depth of cut, and vibrational amplitude over the surface finish lobe finite range, it was found that the cutting parameters exhibit an attenuating or filtering effect on vibrations. Thus, cutting parameters serve to mitigate the vibrational effect on the finished workpiece over certain wavelengths. The filter curves associated with various feed rates were compared. These filter curves describe the magnitude of error on the ultra precision face turned workpiece surface compared with the original unwanted tool / workpiece vibrational magnitude. It was demonstrated with experimental data that these filter curves are physically evident on the ultra precision diamond face turned workpiece surface. It was further shown that the surface roughness on the workpiece surface caused by the feed rate was reduced with relative tool / workpiece vibrations, and in some cases the feed mark wavelength was changed altogether. Mean arithmetic surface roughness curves were also constructed, and the filtering phenomenon was demonstrated over a broadband of disturbance frequencies. It is well established that a decrease in the feed rate reduces the surface roughness in machining. However, it was demonstrated that the improved surface finish observed with a slower feed rate in ultra precision diamond face turning was actually because it more effectively mitigated the vibrational effect on the workpiece surface over a broadband of disturbance frequencies. Experimental findings validated this observation. By only considering the effect of vibrations on the surface finish waviness error, it was shown that the workpiece diamond face turned with a feed rate of 2 {tm / rev has a mean arithmetic surface roughness, Ra , that was 43 per cent smaller than when a feed rate of 10 μm / rev was used. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Ultraprecision single point diamond turning is required to produce parts with sub-nanometer surface roughness and sub-micrometer surface profiles tolerances. These parts have applications in the optics industry, where tight form accuracy is required while achieving high surface finish quality. Generally, parts can be polished to achieve the desired finish, but then the form accuracy can easily be lost in the process rendering the part unusable. Currently, most mid to low spatial frequency surface finish errors are inspected offline. This is done by physically removing the workpiece from the machining fixture and mounting the part in a laser interferometer. This action introduces errors in itself through minute differences in the support conditions of the over constrained part on a machine as compared to the mounting conditions used for part measurement. Once removed, the fixture induced stresses and the part’s internal residual stresses relax and change the shape of the generally thin parts machined in these applications. Thereby, the offline inspection provides an erroneous description of the performance of the machine. This research explores the use of a single, high resolution, capacitance sensor to quickly and qualitatively measure the low to mid spatial frequencies on the workpiece surface, while it is mounted in a fixture on a standard ultraprecision single point diamond turning machine after a standard facing operation. Following initial testing, a strong qualitative correlation exists between the surface profiling on a standard offline system and this online measuring system. Despite environmental effects and the effects of the machine on the measurement system, the capacitive system with some modifications and awareness of its measurement method is a viable option for measuring mid to low spatial frequencies on a workpiece surface mounted on an ultraprecision machine with a resolution of 1nm with an error band of ±5nm with a 20kHz bandwidth. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)