Temperature effect on the deformation and optical quality of moulded glass lenses in precision glass moulding

Abstract The aim of this study was to thoroughly investigate the effect of temperature on the deformation behavior and optical performance of moulded glass in a nonuniform temperature field. Experiments and numerical simulations were used to analyze how different temperature gradients distributed across a glass cylinder affected the deformation behavior of the moulded glass. Additionally, the imaging quality of the moulded glass lens was detected using the optical measurement system. The results show that the overall shape of the moulded glass cylinder was mainly determined by the value of the temperature gradient. The larger temperature gradient led to smaller deformation angle θ in the moulded glass cylinder. Temperature difference inside the glass dominantly affected the deformation behavior and surface morphology in the nonuniform temperature field, which greatly determines the imaging quality of glass lenses. The results of this study are significant for glass lens fabrication.