Abstract
Severe diamond tool wear may be caused by a chemical reaction between SiO2 in glass and diamond during ultraprecision cutting of silica glass, because silica glass is based on SiO2. This study demonstrated that adopting fluoride glass, which has no SiO2 constituent, as the workpiece reduced tool edge retreat to 1/22 of that of silica glass. This was because the fluoride glass contains no SiO2, which reacts chemically with diamond and leads to severe tool wear. Ductile mode cutting of fluoride glass was realized for long cutting distance. As an application, an aspherical glass lens was produced by ultraprecision cutting. In addition, the tool wear, surface generation, and chip formation mechanisms were investigated.