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 µm and 0.673 µm, 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.