| Sol No.: |
Navy SBIR FY2016.1 |
| Topic No.: |
N161-036 |
| Topic Title: |
Reduced Cost Fabrication of Optical Sapphire Hyper-hemispheres for Submarine Masts |
| Proposal No.: |
N161-036-0042 |
| Firm: |
Adolf Meller Company d.b.a Meller Optics Inc.
120 Corliss Street
Providence, Rhode Island 2904 |
| Contact: |
Theodore Turnquist |
| Phone: |
(401) 331-3717 |
| Web Site: |
http://www.melleroptics.com |
| Abstract: |
The objective of the proposal is to reduce the cost of fabrication of sapphire optical hyper-hemispheres for submarine masts. Due to the nature of sapphire, deriving complex geometries from grown boules using current conventional fabrication techniques is one of the major contributors to cost. Removing excess material requires long diamond grinding cycles. New advances in ultrasonics have been incorporated by machine tool manufacturers to couple this technology with conventional diamond grinding techniques in order to accomplish orders of magnitude increases in stock removal with no impact on surface finish and sub-surface damage. |
| Benefits: |
The successful reduction of grinding times for sapphire will result in lower fabrication costs for hyper-hemispheres that result in lower procurement costs for the Navy. The technology will also permeate into other programs that utilize complex sapphire components and similarly will drive down those costs. It is anticipated that the benefits to the fabrication of sapphire will be applicable to other tough materials such as the many varieties of toughened ceramics. |