A Study on Surface Topography Transformation in Abrasive Slurry Jet Polishing of BK7 Glass

In recent times, the abrasive slurry jet polishing process (ASJP) or fluid jet polishing process (FJP) is one of the widely used polishing processes, especially for complex optical components. However, the rate of reduction in surface roughness varies with respect to polishing time or jet exposure time. Thus, it is essential to understand the physical insights into the surface topography transformation with respect to jet exposure time or polishing time. In that perspective, the present work deals with the study on the surface topography transformation in the BK7 glass with respect to jet exposure time or polishing time. The surface topography transformation was studied by assessing the surface roughness and by analyzing the surface morphology of the workpiece at a fixed interval of time. From the experiment, three stages of reduction in surface roughness generation, as well as the different mechanisms of material removal, were observed with respect to time. This helps in identifying the saturation limit on reduction in surface roughness under specific processing and environmental conditions.