Loose abrasive slurries for optical glass lapping.

Loose abrasive lapping is widely used to prepare optical glass before its final polishing. We carried out a comparison of 20 different slurries from four different vendors. Slurry particle sizes and morphologies were measured. Fused silica samples were lapped with these different slurries on a single side polishing machine and characterized in terms of surface roughness and depth of subsurface damage (SSD). Effects of load, rotation speed, and slurry concentration during lapping on roughness, material removal rate, and SSD were investigated.