Study on the fast tool servo-assisted milling of microlens arrays

In order to reduce the cost of milling ultra-precision microlens arrays and improve its efficiency, a fast tool servo-assisted microlens milling method is proposed which combines a fast tool servo (FTS) and a traditional three-axis displacement platform. The FTS-assisted microlens arrays milling path generation algorithm is established and the milling surface simulation model based on milling kinematics and grid discretization principle is constructed. A high precision FTS system is developed based on which a FTS-assisted microlens arrays milling platform is built. For verifying the effectiveness of this new method, a series of experiments are carried out. The minimum surface roughness and surface PV error of the machined micro-lenses are 0.046 mu m and 0.673 mu m, respectively. The results of tests with various cutting parameters illustrate that feed rate is the main cutting parameter to affect the milling quality of micro-lens array.