Electro-Chemically Enhanced Mechanical Polishing of Nickel Mandrels

Grinding and mechanical polishing techniques used for x-ray optics mandrel figuring lead to mid-frequency surface ripple. These small figure variations have to be addressed in order to improve the performance of the resulting x-ray mirrors. If the electrochemical etching is combined with mechanical polishing, the figuring and the surface finishing cm be done simultaneously and be used to correct the mid-frequency surface ripple. It is shown that the electrochemical mechanical polishing method allows selective removal of nickel alloy without mandrel surface microroughness degradation.