Enhancement of surface quality in ultrasonic machining of glass using a sacrificing coating

We present a new fabrication method that enables precision hole machining to be achieved by sacrificing the coating on the substrate in ultrasonic machining (USM). A hard wax coating is deposited on the glass substrate, and holes are precisely fabricated in the coated glass using USM. Finally, a wax coating is removed using a cleaning process. The wax coating protects the surface of the glass so that cracks are generated in the wax rather than on the surface. The surface accuracy of the glass substrate is evaluated at the hole entrance using the new tools in USM as a function of the thickness of the coating. The entrance diameters of the machined holes and the machining forces at the beginning of cutting are measured as a function of the thickness of the coating. The entrance cracks and out-of-roundness of the machined holes are generated in the sacrificed coating on the glass substrate; hence, the surface quality of the glass holes is enhanced in USM. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.