Application of atmospheric plasma jet machining (PJM) for effective surface figuring of SiC

Optical and mechanical components made of SiC are widely used in ground and space based astronomical instruments and other scientific instrumentation. Although the manufacturing steps for SiC have been improved and optimized during the last decade, in some cases conventional abrasive shaping and finishing techniques are not applicable, e.g. because of complex surface shapes like free forms or aspheres with strong curvatures, or very small sized components. As an alternative contactless plasma jet based techniques can be applied for surface shaping or figure error correction on SiC surfaces. In this paper some aspects of plasma jet interaction with the surface are discussed. Furthermore, we demonstrate the capability of atmospheric plasma jet machining technology to process optical and mechanical components made of SiC in an effective way. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.