Abrasive Water Jet Cutting of Mirror Cores

Abstract

Eastman Kodak has combined an Abrasive Water Jet (AWJ) and a three axis robot to provide the capability to cut lightweight mirror cores. An overview of the AWJ process will be given and mirror core design flexibility resulting from this process will be shown. This process can be used for high accuracy machining of mirror cores or lower accuracy - lower cost cores. Insights into machining these types of cores will be discussed and results will be presented.