Acoustic emissions – live monitoring of signals from the polishing gap

While acoustic emissions are a method for e. g. the monitoring of bridges or for the assessment of the integrity of tanks, we wanted to investigate them for a further field of application. We tested AEs for the monitoring and assessment of a high-quality finishing process for optical components, the polishing of lenses. This process is - even though - it is of incalculable importance for nearly every optical component still a process which is commonly considered as some kind of black magic. With our research, we want to deliver an insight in this process with interacting mechanical and chemical processes. We want to present a method for the in-situ evaluation of a polishing process.