IDENTIFYING THE OPTIMUM PROCESS PARAMETERS OF PRECISION GLASS MOLDING FOR ASPHERICAL LENSES

The purpose of this research is to determine the optimum process parameters for the Precision Glass Molding (PGM) Process using Manufacturing Design, Design of Experiments and Metrology (for measuring the geometry of lenses). First, a custom machine is designed and manufactured which can carry out Precision Glass Lens Molding Experiments. This machine is then modified to improve temperature, position and force control. A literature review is performed to obtain data for process parameters that have been used in previous PGM studies. The collected data is then used in Design of Experiments to create twenty seven experiments that determine the optimum process parameters. The lenses produced from these experiments are measured for surface form and surface roughness. This research also addresses the issues with PGM which include wear of mold coating, sticking of glass on mold cavities and repeatability of form of the lenses produced. This project resulted in data that could be used in validating PGM finite element simulations and the PGM experiments are able to produce good quality lenses. Three experiments are chosen for optimum process parameters. One experiment has the optimum (minimum) cycle time for PGM, the second experiment has the optimum process repeatability and the third has optimum process parameters for reducing power error on the aspherical side of the lens