www.lapping-and-polishing.com
Lapping and Polishing Services for All Materials
Valley Design offers expert lapping and polishing services for a wide range of materials and sizes, providing high precision, exceptional surface finishes, and tight tolerances for industries such as aerospace, optics, electronics, and precision engineering. This expertise is backed by over 50 years of experience and advanced CNC micromachining capabilities.
Valley Design provides comprehensive lapping and polishing services for a wide variety of materials, delivering exceptional precision and surface finishes for applications in aerospace, optics, electronics, and other high-precision fields. Their capabilities include maintaining tight tolerances, working with different materials from sapphire to polyimide, and handling sizes from microscopic to large-scale components.
Lapping and polishing services are specialized techniques used to improve the surface finish and dimensional accuracy of materials. Lapping involves removing material to achieve flatness, parallelism, and a specific surface finish, while polishing aims to eliminate imperfections to produce a smooth, reflective surface. These services are essential in industries that require high precision and specific surface characteristics.
The lapping process is used when tighter tolerances are needed than what standard machining can achieve. Abrasive particles (loose or fixed) are used to grind the surface of the part. The process can be either double-sided or single-sided. Typical applications of lapping include industries such as aerospace, optics, precision engineering, and semiconductors.
The polishing process aims to remove surface imperfections, such as scratches or machining marks, to achieve a smooth, reflective surface. It also uses abrasives and controlled techniques to improve surface quality. Typical polishing applications are common in industries where surface interactions are crucial, such as bearings, lubrication system components, and seals.
Lapping and polishing services work together to provide:
- Enhanced Performance
- High Precision
- Improved Surface Finish
- Material Optimization
From R&D and prototype lapping and polishing to full production, Valley Design manages it all. We process all types of materials, from very hard like Sapphire to very soft like Polyimide, and handle sizes ranging from as small as .127mm (0.005in) square to large geometry lapping and polishing up to 2 meters (79in).
Valley Design skillfully offers lapping and polishing services for a variety of materials and applications:
- Large metal parts and tiny 1/16” square metal shims to within +/- 20 millionths of an inch (.000020”).
- SEMI standard wafers ranging from 2” diameter up to 450mm diameter are available in lapped and polished forms of ceramics, glass, fused silica, quartz, silicon, sapphire, and stainless steel, polished to angstrom-level finishes.
- Precise aluminum, stainless steel, and molybdenum mirrors can be lapped and polished flat to ¼ µm and gold plated for IR applications.
- Ultra-thin Sapphire: A flat Sapphire 1cm square with a thickness of 25um, R plane Sapphire up to 50um thick, C plane Sapphire up to 80um thick, with polished surface finishes.
- Precision lapping and polishing of all materials: Teflon, PEEK, Silicon Carbide, Silicon, Stainless Steel, Copper, Brass, Glass, Fused Silica, Quartz, Aluminum Nitride, Alumina Substrates (96%, 99.5%, and 99.6%), Sapphire, Molybdenum, Germanium, Polyimides, Filter Glass, Macor, Steatite, and many others.
Product applications with lapping and polishing required:
At Valley Design, we provide precision using one of the most diverse lapping and polishing facilities worldwide. Our 50 years of experience with various materials enable us to achieve the best finishes and tightest tolerances in the industry. We also offer 4 and 5-axis CNC micromachining alongside our lapping, polishing, and dicing services, making Valley Design a comprehensive source for all your precision machining needs.
Typical Tolerances:
Thickness tolerances: +/- 0.5μm (20 millionths of an inch) Parallelism: +/- 0.25μm (10 millionths of an inch), to as low as 1 arc second Flatness: λ/10 = 1/5 band
Typical Surface Finish Guidelines:
|
Lapped |
Polished |
| 96% Alumina |
10-20u” Ra |
2-3u” Ra |
| 99.6% Alumina |
8-16u” Ra |
1-2u” Ra |
| Aluminum |
20u” Ra |
5-10nm Ra |
| Aluminum Nitride |
25u” Ra |
2u” Ra |
| Fused Silica |
25u” Ra |
< 7 Å Ra (20/10 scratch/dig) |
| Glass |
25u” Ra |
< 10 Å Ra (60/40 scratch/dig) |
| Sapphire |
10-20u” Ra |
< 10 Å Ra (60/40 scratch/dig) |
| Stainless Steel |
15-20u” Ra |
< 50 Å Ra |
To convert any of these measurements, go to our online conversion calculator.
Any of these materials can be polished to higher levels of surface quality and are also available from stock.
Ready to Take Your Business to the Next Level?
At Valley Design, we combine innovation, precision, and reliability to deliver top-quality manufacturing solutions tailored to your needs. Whether you’re seeking efficiency, speed, or scalability, we’re here to help.
Contact us online or call us at 978-425-3030 today for a consultation, and let’s create something extraordinary together!