Improved Polishing Performance for Glass by a Novel Suede Pad Utilizing Epoxy Resin

Abstract

This paper describes newly developed suede pads for final polishing of glass that employ epoxy resin to improve the stagnation properties of the abrasives. From contact and sliding angle measurements on resin films, it was found that epoxy resin exhibited higher hydrophilicity than urethane or fluorine resin. In an attempt to improve the polishing performance of commercially-available polyurethane suede pads, various types of resin films were deposited on them, and glass polishing tests were carried out. It was found that an epoxy-coated pad exhibited a two times higher removal rate than an untreated pad, whereas the fluorine resin coating actually reduced the removal rate. Suede pads containing epoxy resin were then fabricated using a wet solidification method. A Fourier transform infrared analysis indicated that the resin remained in the fabricated pads. The resin containing pads exhibited significantly higher performance than conventional polyurethane suede pads. The removal rate when polishing glass was found to increase with epoxy resin content. The surface waviness was also improved using the new pads. High polishing performance could be maintained even after a 3 h polishing test.