Influence exerted by the pad material and polishing suspension on reproducibility of a polishing process

In various publications the material removal mechanisms during polishing of optical glass materials are discussed. However, they pay only slight attention on the role of the polishing pad in the tribological system consisting of pad, suspension and glass material. Extensive technological investigations demonstrate the influence of the pad material on the polishing result and on the reproducibility of the polishing process. It is shown that the interaction between glass material and pad depends on the kind of glass material and on the properties of the suspension. Especially the compound of the fluid supports or impedes the polishing process. This is of special interest, because the compound of the fluid is changed by the material removal during the polishing process. The observed effects can be explained with principles of the surface chemistry.