Ultraprecision cutting of Ni plated mold

Abstract

Large reflecting mirrors are used for X-ray telescope in the astronomical space. The large thin mirrors are produced by molding with diamond turned and polished molds made of electroless nickel. The electroless nickel is amorphous material and can be machined to mirror surface. In order to machine more precisely, it is important decrease the tool wear. In this study, the thin electroless nickel and electro nickel are diamond-turned to evaluate the tool wear and machining accuracies. In the experiments, the nickels are single-point diamond turned and the tool wear ratio and the surface roughness were evaluated.