Brittle materials are difficult to mechanically micro machine due to damage resulting from material removal by brittle fracture, cutting force-induced tool deflection or breakage and tool wear. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of micro machining glass materials with polycrystalline diamond (PCD) micro tools that are prepared in a variety of shapes using non-contact micro electro discharge machining. The PCD tools contain randomly distributed sharp protrusions of diamond with dimensions around 1 µm that serve as cutting edges for micro machining grooves in soda-lime glass and pockets in ultra-low expansion glass. Results indicate that smooth surfaces are obtained with process conditions allowing material removal by ductile regime cutting instead of brittle fractures, and the PCD tools show very little wear. With further improvements in material removal rate, micro machining with PCD tools is a promising approach for producing micro molds and micro fluidic devices in glass materials.

This work demonstrates techniques that advance the standard practice in spindle metrology and enable five degree-of-freedom calibration of precision spindles with nanometer-level error motion. Several improvements are described in this paper: (1) an improved implementation of Donaldson and Estler reversal that eliminates moving and realigning the displacement sensor, (2) frequency domain low-pass filtering of data to remove spectral content without distortion, (3) robust removal of low frequency components caused by thermal drift and fluctuations in air bearing supply pressure, and (4) three-dimensional display of the synchronous error motion in the radial and axial directions. Example measurements demonstrate the repeatability and reproducibility of the techniques. Furthermore, synchronous radial error motion of an air bearing spindle calibrated by multi-step, master artifact, and master axis techniques agree within 1 nm.

This article demonstrates the characterization of field emission from individual carbon nanotubes (CNTs) attached to a tungsten tip, when the separation distance s between the anode and tip of the CNT (cathode) is less than 15μm. The separation distance is adjusted with a nanopositioning stage after establishing a datum by detecting the anode surface with the CNT tip. Our separation distance s differs by the height h of the CNT from the distance d that is often measured between the planar anode and the planar substrate of an emitting cathode. Consequently, the electric field at the tip of the CNT is modeled by F=λV∕s, where λ is our field amplification factor, rather than by F=γV∕d, where γ is the more conventional field enhancement factor. Twenty-four sets of current-voltage I(V) data were measured from an individual multiwall CNT at separation distances s between 1.4 and 13.5μm. A nonlinear curve-fitting algorithm extracted Fowler-Nordheim (FN) parameters from each set of I(V) data, rather than conventional extraction from the FN plots. The turn-on voltage Vto (to emit 1nA) as a function of the separation distance followed an empirical power relation Vto=asb, and the field amplification factor λ empirically followed the relation λ=λ∞s∕(s+h)+1. This experimental characterization is an improvement over other techniques since the gap is controlled more precisely over a larger range, the electric field at the CNT tip is not disturbed by other CNTs, and the anode is flat to within a few nanometers.

This work demonstrates the state of the art capabilities of three error separation techniques for nanometerlevel measurement of precision spindles and rotationally-symmetric artifacts. Donaldson reversal is compared to a multi-probe and a multi-step technique using a series of measurements carried out on a precision aerostatic spindle with a lapped spherical artifact. The results indicate that sub-nanometer features in both spindle error motion and artifact form are reliably resolved by all three techniques. Experimental SetupThis paper documents a series of experiments exploring the capability of ultra-precision spindle measurements, including a comparison of results obtained by the multi-step, a multi-probe (3 probes), and the modified-Donaldson reversal approaches to spindle error separation. The test hardware for this research consists of the spindle being tested (test spindle), a rotary encoder, a precision rotary table, a spherical master artifact, a reversal chuck, and a displacement sensor. Capacitance sensor and holder Spherical artifact Test spindle Piloted reversal chuck Rotary table

The stiffness of insect wings is typically determined through experimental measurements. Such experiments are performed on wings removed from insects. However, the wings are subject to desiccation which typically leads to an increase in their stiffness. Although this effect of desiccation is well known, a comprehensive study of the rate of change in stiffness of desiccating insect wings would be a significant aid in planning experiments as well as interpreting data from such experiments. This communication presents a comprehensive experimental analysis of the change in mass and stiffness of gradually desiccating forewings of Painted Lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui). Mass and stiffness of the forewings of five butterflies were simultaneously measured every 10 min over a 24 h period. The averaged results show that wing mass declined exponentially by 21.1% over this time period with a time constant of 9.8 h, while wing stiffness increased linearly by 46.2% at a rate of 23.4 µN mm(-1) h(-1). For the forewings of a single butterfly, the experiment was performed over a period of 1 week, and the results show that wing mass declined exponentially by 52.2% with a time constant of 30.2 h until it reached a steady-state level of 2.00 mg, while wing stiffness increased exponentially by 90.7% until it reached a steady-state level of 1.70 mN mm(-1).