Material removal in the optical polishing of hydrophilic polymer materials
The optical polishing of hydrophilic polymer materials is a complex process that requires a comprehensive setting of various operating parameters. Based on a series of experimental investigations and dimensional analysis, this paper presents a simple empirical equation to evaluate material removal in the polishing of optical spherical surfaces of hydrophilic polymer materials. It is shown that the polishing load applied governs the material removal, the relative sliding velocity and the sliding distance between the workpiece and polishing tool surfaces. The equation also offers a good reference for the setting of the polishing variables. # 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
Tribology of Plastic Materials
This book on polymer tribology is Volume 16 in the Tribology Series published by Elsevier. It is, for the most part, a translation of the book Lubricity of Plastic Materials written in Japanese by the same author in 1981. It consists of four chapters, each of which includes a considerable amount of experimental data from the author's laboratory at Kogakuin University in Tokyo. The first two chapters, one dealing with friction and the other with wear, present theories of tribological behavior and discuss the experimental evidence upon which the theories are based. There is substantial discussion of the role of internal structure on polymer friction (but not the role of structure on wear). Chapter 3 deals with the self-lubricating properties of polymers and composites. It presents a good discussion of the improvement of those properties through polymer blending or the addition of fillers to polymer composites. Chapter 4, the longest chapter, discusses the application of polymers in mechanical components, including dry and lubricated journal bearings, ball bearings, brake shoes, gears and packings. Most of the references, especially in Chapter 4, are to the Japanese literature, but few of the references date from post-1980. The book presents a good description of test methods for polymer friction and wear, and includes many results of tests conducted in Japanese laboratories. Many of those results were previously available only in Japanese, so the book gives the American or European tribologist access to those results for the first time. It also provides a view of the field of polymer tribology from the Japanese perspective. These are the book's most significant contributions. Although the book presents friction and wear data for a large number of polymers and composites, and their potential use in a variety of applications, those data are not easy to find. The major reason for this is that the book lacks an index. This deficiency certainly decreases the value of the book as a reference. Even if it had an index, however, it would still be a bit difficult to put together a coherent story for a given polymer because of the way the book is organized. Chapter 3 is organized by material group, but the organization of chapters 1 and 2 is by phenomenon, with data for different materials being scattered throughout those chapters. Some of the figures, especially in chapters 1 and 2, are a bit confusing because of
Optical heterodyne profilometry.
A noncontact optical technique for the measurement of surface profile is described, which has a height sensitivity of the order of 1 A. It is based on a common path heterodyne interferometer in which two orthogonally polarized beams of slightly different frequency are focused on the surface to be measured. One focal point acts as a reference as the other point circularly scans the surface. The phase of the beat frequency of the interfering return beams is directly proportional to the surface height. The results of a surface measurement include graphical displays of the surface profile, autocovariance function, spectral density function, stability, and repeatability. Comparison with other instruments is also discussed.