In the field of optics, as an important optical component, the prism undertakes key tasks such as changing the propagation direction of light, splitting light, and combining light. It is widely used in many optical instruments, including astronomical telescopes, microscopes, camera lenses, laser equipment, and optical communication systems. Different types of prisms, such as right-angle prisms, triangular prisms, roof prisms, etc., with their unique geometric shapes and optical properties, play an indispensable role in various optical systems. Yighen Ultra Precision, as a leader in the field of optical processing, demonstrates outstanding technical strength in prism processing technology. Whether it is a prism made of glass or resin material, it can achieve high-precision and high-quality processing.
Due to its good optical properties, such as high transparency, low dispersion, and stable optical uniformity, glass material becomes the first choice for making high-precision prisms. Yighen Ultra Precision has rich resources of glass material suppliers and can carefully select suitable types of glass according to the specific optical performance requirements of customers for prisms. Common ones include various optical glasses of well-known brands such as Schott Glass and Corning Glass.
Before processing, strict pretreatment is carried out on the glass raw materials. First, through high-precision cutting equipment, large pieces of glass are cut into blanks close to the size of the prism. The cutting accuracy is controlled at the sub-millimeter level, reducing the subsequent processing allowance and improving the material utilization rate. Then, the blanks are ground and polished to remove the surface damage layer generated during the cutting process, making the glass surface reach a certain flatness and laying the foundation for subsequent precision processing. At this time, the surface roughness of the glass can be reduced to the nanometer level, ensuring that the optical performance of the prism can be better guaranteed in subsequent processing.
Grinding is one of the key links in the processing of glass prisms. Yighen Ultra Precision uses advanced numerical control grinding equipment, which can precisely control various parameters during the grinding process. In the rough grinding stage, grinding materials with larger particle sizes are used to quickly remove the excess material on the glass blank, making the prism take shape initially and reach a shape close to the design size. In this process, by precisely controlling the motion trajectory and pressure of the grinding equipment, the flatness and parallelism errors of each surface of the prism are controlled within a very small range.
As the grinding progresses, it enters the fine grinding stage. At this time, grinding materials with finer particle sizes are used to further improve the flatness and smoothness of the prism surface. During the fine grinding process, the control of grinding parameters is more precise. Through real-time monitoring and adjustment, the flatness of the prism surface reaches the micron-level accuracy, creating favorable conditions for the subsequent polishing process.
Polishing is an important process to endow the glass prism with optical-grade surface quality. Yighen Ultra Precision adopts advanced polishing technology and process. Through methods such as chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), while ensuring the shape accuracy of the prism, the surface roughness is greatly reduced. During the polishing process, a polishing solution with a special formula and a high-precision polishing pad are used to finely process the prism surface through the synergistic effect of physics and chemistry.
The control of parameters during the polishing process is crucial. The engineers of Yighen Ultra Precision precisely regulate parameters such as the polishing pressure, time, temperature, and the flow rate of the polishing solution to ensure that every part of the prism surface can be polished evenly and meticulously. After polishing, the surface roughness of the glass prism can be as low as the nanometer level, and the reflection and scattering of light on its surface are greatly reduced, thus significantly improving the optical performance of the prism and meeting the stringent requirements of high-end optical applications for imaging quality and light transmission efficiency.
In order to meet different application requirements, Yighen Ultra Precision also conducts diversified surface treatments on glass prisms. For example, in some occasions where it is necessary to reduce light reflection, the prism surface is subjected to optical coating treatment. Through methods such as evaporation and sputtering, one or more layers of films with specific optical properties, such as anti-reflective films and high-reflective films, are coated on the prism surface, effectively improving the light transmittance or reflectance.
Quality inspection runs through the entire processing process. Yighen Ultra Precision is equipped with a series of advanced inspection equipment, such as laser interferometers, profilometers, and spectrophotometers. The laser interferometer is used to detect the surface shape accuracy of the prism, which can accurately measure parameters such as the flatness, parallelism, and angular error of the prism surface, ensuring that these parameters meet strict design standards. The profilometer is used to detect the microscopic morphology of the prism surface, ensuring that the surface roughness meets the optical-grade requirements. The spectrophotometer is used to detect the optical properties of the prism, such as transmittance, absorbance, and dispersion, comprehensively evaluating the quality of the prism. Only products that pass all strict inspections can enter the next process or be finally delivered to customers.
Due to the advantages of light weight, low cost, and easy processing and molding, resin materials are widely used in some optical application fields that are sensitive to weight and cost, such as consumer electronics and virtual reality devices. Yighen Ultra Precision has a rich resin material library, covering a variety of high-performance optical resins, such as polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polycarbonate (PC), cycloolefin copolymer (COC), etc. These resin materials have their own advantages in optical performance, mechanical performance, and processing performance, and can meet the diverse needs of different customers for resin prisms.
For example, PMMA has high transparency, good weather resistance, and processing performance, and its light transmittance can reach about 92%, making it suitable for making prism products with high requirements for transparency and sensitivity to cost. PC has higher strength and toughness, and in some optical devices that need to withstand certain mechanical stress, PC-based prisms show better stability. COC has characteristics such as low birefringence and high glass transition temperature, and is suitable for precision optical systems with high requirements for optical performance.
In addition to the injection molding process, Yighen Ultra Precision can also directly use single-point turning to process resin prism samples, providing customers with a more flexible and efficient solution. The company is equipped with advanced single-point diamond turning lathes, such as the Toshiba ULC - 100D (S) and ULC - 100F (S), which have nanometer-level resolution accuracy and can precisely control the tool's motion trajectory.
Before processing, technicians will carefully plan the tool path through professional software according to the design parameters of the resin prism. During processing, the high-hardness diamond tool makes single-point contact with the resin material for cutting. By precisely regulating parameters such as the cutting speed, feed rate, and cutting depth, the material is quickly removed and formed efficiently. Taking the processing of small PMMA resin prism samples as an example, single-point turning can be completed within a few hours, and the surface roughness can be stably controlled at the nanometer level, and the surface shape accuracy reaches the sub-micron level, meeting the requirements of rapid prototyping and high precision.
This processing method is especially suitable for small-batch customization and the prototyping stage of new product development. Compared with the cumbersome process of making molds required for injection molding, single-point turning does not require a mold, greatly shortening the sample production cycle, reducing the research and development cost, and being able to quickly respond to customer needs, allowing customers to obtain resin prism samples that meet the design requirements more quickly and accelerating the product research and development process.
Injection molding is one of the main processes for processing resin prisms. Yighen Ultra Precision has advanced equipment and mature technology in this regard. First, according to the design requirements of the prism, high-precision mold processing equipment is used to manufacture a special injection mold. The precision of the mold directly determines the quality of the final product. Therefore, during the mold manufacturing process, Yighen Ultra Precision strictly controls every link, adopting advanced processing technology and inspection means to ensure that the surface quality, dimensional accuracy, and demoulding performance of the mold reach extremely high standards.
During the injection process, the dried resin particles are heated to a molten state and injected into the mold cavity at high speed through the screw of the injection molding machine. In this process, it is crucial to precisely control parameters such as the injection temperature, pressure, speed, and holding pressure time. For example, for PMMA resin, the injection temperature is generally controlled between 210 - 240°C, and the injection pressure is adjusted within the range of 80 - 150MPa according to the complexity and size of the prism. By reasonably setting these parameters, it is ensured that the resin is evenly filled in the mold cavity, avoiding defects such as bubbles and sink marks, and thus ensuring the molding quality of the prism.
Although the resin prism after injection molding already has a basic shape, there may be some slight dimensional deviations and surface defects, which require post-processing to further improve the precision and surface quality. Yighen Ultra Precision adopts a variety of post-processing techniques, such as hot pressing shaping, machining, and surface polishing.
Hot pressing shaping is to place the injection-molded prism in a specific mold and process it for a short time under a certain temperature and pressure. Using the plasticity of the resin material at high temperature, the shape of the prism is finely adjusted to further improve its dimensional accuracy and flatness. Machining is mainly used for precise processing of the edges, apertures, and other parts of the prism, removing burrs and flash generated during the injection process, and ensuring the appearance quality and assembly accuracy of the prism. For some resin prisms with high requirements for surface quality, surface polishing treatment will also be carried out. Through chemical polishing, mechanical polishing, or a combination of the two methods, the surface roughness of the prism is reduced, and its optical performance is improved.
After the processing of the resin prism is completed, strict quality inspection is also required. Yighen Ultra Precision uses detection methods similar to those for glass prisms to comprehensively detect the dimensional accuracy, shape accuracy, surface roughness, and optical performance of the resin prism. Since the characteristics of resin materials are different from those of glass, corresponding adjustments and optimizations will be made according to the characteristics of resin materials during the detection process.
For example, when detecting the optical performance of the resin prism, in addition to using a spectrophotometer to detect parameters such as its transmittance and absorbance, special attention will also be paid to the possible birefringence phenomenon of the resin material, and detection and analysis will be carried out through equipment such as a polarizing microscope. For the quality problems found during the detection process, the technical team of Yighen Ultra Precision will conduct in-depth analysis of the causes. Through measures such as adjusting processing process parameters, improving mold design, or optimizing post-processing methods, the product quality will be continuously optimized to ensure that every resin prism leaving the factory can meet the strict requirements of customers.
With its profound technical accumulation, advanced equipment, and strict quality control system in the processing technology of glass prisms and resin prisms, Yighen Ultra Precision provides customers with high-quality, customized prism products. Whether in the field of high-end optical instrument manufacturing or in emerging fields such as consumer electronics and virtual reality, the prism products of Yighen Ultra Precision have won wide recognition from customers with their excellent performance and reliability. In the future, Yighen Ultra Precision will continue to uphold the spirit of innovation, continuously explore and optimize the prism processing technology, and contribute more wisdom and strength to promoting the development of the optical field.
