There is described a method, apparatus and shaping tool for shaping a workpiece. The tool comprises a flexible support surface on which are mounted a number of rigid pellets (84) carrying abrasive material. The tool is driven, in contact with the workpiece surface (S), to perform a ductile grinding operation which results in a finished surface of reduced roughness as compared to conventional grinding operations, while achieving significantly higher material removal rates than comparable ultra-precision grinding techniques. A procedure for preparing the tool for operation by conditioning the tool against a conditioning surface is also described. An exemplary application for the method and apparatus is in the preparation of moulds for moulding curved glass components for use in display screens, in which process a silicon carbide mould cavity surface is shaped using the method to produce a mould cavity surface with a smooth surface finish.

A manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing an optical element including two spherical segments and a cylindrical portion by performing press molding using a mold on a molding material that is softened by heat includes: a sensor configured to measure one of a diameter and mass of the molding material; a calculator configured to calculate a target thickness of the optical element based on one of the diameter and the mass of the molding material measured by the sensor; and a controller configured to control an inter-mold distance of the mold at a time of press molding such that a thickness of the optical element becomes the target thickness calculated by the calculator unit.

Provided is a method for manufacturing an infrared-transmissive lens having an excellent surface quality. A method for manufacturing an infrared-transmissive lens includes firing a preform of a chalcogenide glass in an inert gas atmosphere to obtain a fired body and then subjecting the fired body to hot press molding.

A method of producing an optical element includes: determining, as a reference mold set, a first mold set from among mold sets; determining a set temperature for the reference mold set; acquiring reference data by measuring, by a temperature measurement sensor, a temperature of the reference mold set; measuring, by the temperature measurement sensor, a temperature of a second mold set that is at least one of the mold sets other than the reference mold set; calculating a correction value based on a measurement result obtained by the measuring and on the reference data; determining a set temperature for the second mold set based on the set temperature for the reference mold set and on the correction value; and performing temperature control on the mold sets based on set temperatures determined for the respective mold sets to produce the optical elements.

An optical element shaping mold set includes a first shaping mold and a second shaping mold that face each other; a tubular third shaping mold which is located around the first shaping mold and the second shaping mold and in which at least one of the first shaping mold and the second shaping mold slides, and heating, pressing and cooling are conducted with a shaping-target material accommodated between the first shaping mold and the second shaping mold, the third shaping mold has a slit formed on at least one of ends in a sliding direction of the at least one of the first shaping mold and the second shaping mold, and the third shaping mold has a linear expansion coefficient that is smaller than a linear expansion coefficient of the first shaping mold and smaller than a linear expansion coefficient of the second shaping mold.

There are provided a lens forming mold, and a manufacturing method for a cylindrical lens, with which cylindrical lenses having good mass productivity can be manufactured. A lens forming mold for forming a molding on which a plurality of cylindrical surfaces are arranged in parallel includes: a first mold including a plurality of cylindrical surface forming portions that are arranged in parallel at equal intervals; and a first flat surface forming portion that is provided between adjacent cylindrical surface forming portions; and a second mold that sandwiches the glass material and faces the first mold when the molding is molded, in which the second mold includes a second flat surface forming portion that faces the plurality of cylindrical surface forming portions and the first flat surface forming portion.

A method is provided for producing a patterned glass wafer for packaging electronic devices in a wafer assembly. The method includes placing a glass sheet between two mold halves and heating until the glass sheet softens, while the mold halves are pressed against one another so that the glass sheet is reshaped and forms a patterned glass wafer. The first mold half has an array of projections and the second mold half has an array of recesses. The mold halves are arranged and shaped so that the recesses and projections oppose each other. The projections introduce cavities into the glass sheet during the reshaping and with the glass flowing into the recesses of the second mold half during the reshaping. The recesses are deep enough for the glass to at least partially not come in contact therewith and to form a convexly shaped glass surface in each recess.

A method for manufacturing an optical element includes heating an optical material up to a first temperature that is higher than a transition point, pressurizing the optical material using a first mold and a second mold that are situated opposite to each other across the optical material, first cooling the optical material down to a second temperature that is higher than a strain point and lower than the first temperature while pressurizing the optical material with a predetermined load using the first mold and the second mold, releasing the predetermined load at a set speed that is higher than or equal to a speed obtained in advance, at which an elastic deformation occurs preferentially over a viscous deformation in the optical material upon releasing a load, and second cooling the optical material down to a third temperature that is lower than the second temperature.

A method of controlling an optical element manufacturing apparatus includes: heating a cavity formed of a pair of upper and lower dies to a first temperature where an optical element material softens and becomes formable by the pair of dies; heating the cavity to a second temperature where the optical element material is deformed due to a weight of the optical element material in a state of not being in contact with the upper die, the second temperature being higher than the first temperature; and pressing the pair of dies for transfer of forming surfaces of the pair of dies onto the optical element material, the forming surfaces being outside a range where a forming surface of a die has been transferred by the deformation due to the weight in the state where the optical element material is not in contact with the upper die at the second temperature.

A glass lens blank for polishing in which a thickness of a defect-containing layer is suppressed to a minimum and thus it is possible to shorten the processing time required for grinding and polishing the glass lens blank for polishing after press-molding, a method of manufacturing the same, and a method of manufacturing an optical lens. A glass lens blank for polishing of which at least a main surface is a press-molding surface, wherein a defect-containing layer formed on the main surface has a thickness of 50 m or less.