Abigail Hooper, Christopher Boffa and Harry W. Sarkas
Nanophase Technologies Corporation
Cerium oxide, because of its commonality to the optical workshop, is often used as the go-to abrasive for polishing many different substrates. For silica containing substrates, cerium oxide is an excellent abrasive choice because it allows for both chemical and mechanical polishing. However, plastic lenses do not contain silica and thereby cannot undergo the same chemical reaction with cerium oxide. These substrates are also very vulnerable to sleeks and scratches, and the tabular cerium oxide can impart defects into the surface resulting in scratch-dig failures and higher than expected surface roughness values. With the recent market push for plastic optical components, selection of an appropriate polishing slurry is critical to maintaining a competitive edge in the market and a profitable business.
In this paper, the authors will show how using aluminum oxide can improve performance on thermoset and thermoplastic resins like polycarbonate, Zeonex,® and Acrylic. The shape of the aluminum oxide can allow for reduced defectivity while the high hardness of the abrasive allows for a removal rate tunable to the substrate hardness.