Study on the Polishing Process of Glass (Part 1)

Relation between the polishing rate and physical and chemical properties of glasses was investigated on many kinds of optical glasses and the polishing mechanism of glass was discussed. The polishing rate of glass depends on the rate of forming the hydrated layer resulting from the chemical reaction between the polishing slurry and the glass surface and the hardness of the hydrated layer. Thus, the polishing mechanism of glass is considered as follows; the hydrated layers, resulting from the chemical reaction with polishing slurry, are scratched off and planed by the grains burned in the polisher.