Progress in Precision Engineering

by Professor Pat McKeown Cranfield Precision Engineering, UK Member of Joint Organising Committee IPES6/UME2 PROGRESS IN PRECISION ENGINEERING Metal working companies in tool making, prototype manu­ facture and subcontract machining often use the label "precision engineering" to indicate that they are accustomed to working to finer tolerances than is normally expected in series production. But what we are concerned with in this and our preceding international conferences is much wider and deeper than this. Precision engineering is a grouping of multidis­ ciplinary scientific and engineering skills and techniques, firmly based on dimensional metrology, by which a wide range of new advanced technology products is made possible. In the last 5 - 10 years we have witnessed dramatic progress in precision engineering, particularly by the rapid development of its important sub-sets, micro-engineering and nanotechnology. I t is a part icular pleasure for me and my colleagues on the Organising Committee to welcome you to Braunschweig on the occasion of this the first joint international meeting in high precision manufacturing/precision engineering to be held in Germany. Our aim is to bring together the world's leading precision engineering practitioners from areas of application as diverse as optics for astronomy, micro and nano machining process research, design and development of ul tra preclslon machine tools and metrology equipment, advanced materials, bio­ medical research and new sensor/transducer systems.

1 Ultra-Precision Displacement Metrology.- Investigation and Compensation of the Non-linearity of Heterodyne Interferometers.- Technology and Application of Grating Interferometers in High-precision Measurement.- Silicon as a Length- and Angle Ruler in Nanotechnology.- 2 High-Precision Sensor Systems.- Electron Tunnel Sensors.- Diode Lasers for Industrial Length Meassurements.- 3 Three-Dimensional Metrology.- Paving the Way to Thermally Stable Coordinate Measuring Machines.- Towards Quadrilateration using Steel Ball Retroreflectors.- Testing of Algorithms for Coordinate Measuring Machines.- 4 High-Precision Machine Design and Manufacture.- Experiences in the Development of Ultra Stiff CNC Aspheric Generating Machine Tools for Ductile Regime Grinding of Brittle Materials.- Development of High-precision Aspheric Grinding/Turning Machine.- Design and Testing of a Self Coupling Hydrostatic Leadscrew.- 5 Techniques and Equipment for Machine Performance Testing.- Application of Contisure for the Verification of the Contouring Performance of Precision Machines.- An Evaluation of Ultra-precise Machine Tool Contouring Performance: The Low Amplitude Sine Tracking (LAST) Test.- Examination of High Precision Slow-motion Feed-drive Systems for the Sub-micrometre Range.- 6 High-Precision Machining Processes and Materials.- The Influence of the Crystallographic Structure of the Substrate Material on Surface Quality and Cutting Forces in Micromachining.- Mirror Surface Grinding by Metal Bonded Super-abrasive Wheel with Electrolytic In-process Dressing.- Result of Non-linear Mixing in Precision Machining.- 7 Machine and Process Control.- Micropositioning for Submicron Electron Beam Lithography.- Refinements in Postprocess Gaging with Feedback in the Production of Diamond Turned Optics.- 8 Non-Conventional Processes for Industrial Applications.- Evaluation of Silicon Wafer Polishing Pads - Rheological Behaviour of Polishing Pads and Improvement of Wafer Flatness.- High Aspect Ratio Laser Machining of Composite Ceramics.- Particle Beam Figuring - an Ideal Tool for Precision Figuring of Optics?.- 9 Wider Applications of Ultra-Precision Technologies.- Some Aspects of Ultra-precision Sciences and Engineering in Medicine and Biosciences.- Microelectronic and Nanoelectronic Interfacing Techniques for Biological Systems.- Cutting Experiments in a Computer using Atomic Models of a Copper Crystal and a Diamond Tool.- 10 New Developments in Precision Engineering.- Precision Aspheric Generators for Off-axis X-ray Mirrors and Asymmetric Aspheric Lenses.- Design and Modeling of a Linear Microactuator.- Photon Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Reflection Scanning Microscopy.- 11 Miscellanea.- Design and Performance Considerations of the Continuous Four-roll Bender: A Precision Machine for the Roller Bending of Plates.- Application of Variable Parametric Programming in Precision Machining Processes.- Micromachining of Hydraulic Elements.- An Interferometer for Measurement of Grating and Index Scale.- 12 Short Reports.- Ultraprecision Machining - A Theoretical Analysis of the Mechanisms of Surface Formation.- A Stylus Profilometer with one Nanometre Precision.- An Infinite-stiffness Aerostatic Bearing with an Exhaust-control Restrictor.- Analysis of Dynamic Coefficients for Multirecess Hydrostatic Journal Bearings with Journal Rotation by Finite Element Method.- Measurement of Sub Surface Damage in Silicon Wafers.- Absolute Laserrefractometer.- Accuracy Average Effect of Linear Motion Ball Guides System for NC Machines - Theoretical Analysis.- Accuracy Average Effect of Linear Motion Ball Guides System for NC Machines - Experimental Verification.- Investigation of the Geometrical Properties of CCD Line Image Sensors.- Optical Linewidth Measurement on Masks and Wafers in the Micrometre and Submicrometre Range.- Absolute Flatness Testing.- Kinetic Factors in Electropolishing.- Precise Performance Tests of Machine Tools with the use of a Computerised Measuring System.- The Real Contact Area Measurement by Means of Scanning Profilometry.- High-efficiency Polishing of Polycrystalline Diamond.- A Differential Laser Autocollimation Probe for On-Machine-Measurement.- A New Method of Angle Measurement Based on Internal Reflection Effect.- An Ultra-fine Infeed Controller.- Intercomparison Flatness Measurements on a Granite Surface Plate.- Is it Possible to use Carbide Tools for Ultra-precision Cutting?.- The Straightness Error Compensation Based on the P-integrator Learning Control in High Precision Lathe.- The Research of Super-precision Grinding Control System for Axital Dimension of Hydro Servo Valve Rod.- Bluntness of the Tool and Process Forces in High-precision Cutting.- Design of High Performance Externally Pressurized Gas Bearings.- Mechanisms and Models of Diamond Turning: Theoretical Analysis and Experimental Investigation.- Effect of Crystallographic Orientation on Micro-deformation Processing.- Long Travel Optical Servo Probe.- A New Optical Profilometer for Optical Smooth Surfaces.- Precision Engineering of Aspherical Optical Surfaces for Silicate Glass Components.- Investigations on Single Crystal Diamond Tools for the Ultra-Precision Manufacturing Process.- Micro-positioning Stage of 6 Degree-of-freedom with Nanometer Resolution.- Measurement of Flatness of Technical Surfaces Using Anamorphotic Planinterferometer.- Measurement of Gap and Parameters in the Polishing Process of Optical Glass.- Results of Contactless Measurement of Lubricant Film Thickness in Precision Ball Bearings.- Acceleration and Distance Sensors for Machine Vibration Measurement.- Design and Manufacture of Ultra-Precision Three-Axis Test System with Air Bearing Supports.- Computersimulation for Determining the Machined Surface Using Process Parameters in Single Point Diamond Turning.- Dynamical Behaviour of an Ultra-Precision Turning Machine.- Advanced Wheel Conditioning Technique for Form Wheel Diamond Grinding of Ceramic and Glass Materials.- 13 Appendix.- Some Observations on Tool Wear in Single Point Diamond Turning of Stainless Steel.- High Resolution Optical Spectroscopy.- Consequence of Orientation on the Single Crystal Diamond Cutting Tool.- Ceramics in Finish Machining.- Separation of Correction of the Dynamic Error of the Grating Type Single-flank Mesh Gear Tester.- 14 Author Index.