Advanced Analysis of Laser Beam Polishing of Quartz Glass Surfaces

The laser beam is a small, flexible and fast polishing tool. With laser radiation it is possible to finish many outlines or geometries on quartz glass surfaces in the shortest possible time. It's a fact that the temperature developing while polishing determines the reachable surface smoothing and, as a negative result, causes material tensions.To find out which parameters are important for the laser polishing process and the surface roughness respectively and to estimate material tensions, temperature simulations and extensive polishing experiments took place. During these experiments starting and machining parameters were changed and temperatures were measured contact-free. The accuracy of thermal and mechanical simulation was improved in the case of advanced FE-analysis.