Ductile Mode Cutting of Calcium Fluoride

Abstract

Calcium fluoride is one of the favourite optical materials in the advanced optics applications owing to its superior optical transmission and mechanical properties. While micromachining techniques have evolved to enhance the production process for optical components, this chapter will focus on the fundamental aspects to achieve ductile mode machining by single point diamond turning and the essential surface characterisation techniques are also covered. The anisotropic characteristics will be examined along with the numerical simulation tools to evaluate the ductile–brittle transition. Methods to enhance the machinability integrated with single point diamond turning are also discussed in this chapter.