What is Lapping?

Lapping is a machining operation, in which two surfaces are rubbed together with an abrasive between them, by hand movement or by way of a machine.

This can take two forms. The first type of lapping (traditionally called grinding), typically involves rubbing a brittle material such as glass against a surface such as iron or glass itself (also known as the “lap” or grinding tool) with an abrasive such as aluminum oxide, emery, silicon carbide, diamond, etc., in between them. This produces microscopic conchoidal fractures as the abrasive rolls about between the two surfaces and removes material from both.

The other form of lapping involves a softer material for the lap, which is “charged” with the abrasive. The lap is then used to cut a harder material—the workpiece. The abrasive embeds within the softer material which holds it and permits it to score across and cut the harder material. Taken to the finer limit, this will produce a polished surface such as a polishing cloth on an automobile, or a polishing cloth or polishing pitch upon glass or steel.

Taken to the ultimate limit, with the aid of accurate interferometry and specialized polishing machines, lensmakers can produce surfaces that are flat to better than 30 nanometers. This is one twentieth of the wavelength of light from a commonly-used source, 632.8 nm. Surfaces this flat can be molecularly bonded (optically contacted) by bringing them together under the right conditions. (This is not the same as the wringing effect of Johansson blocks, although it is similar).

“Lapping.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 16 Sep 2007, 14:49 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 7 Nov 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lapping&oldid=158284322>.

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