Zinc sulfide (ZnS) is a widely used material in far-infrared and near-infrared imaging systems due to its exceptional optical transmittance properties. Through a hot isostatic compression process, during manufacturing, ZnS undergoes crystal structure modifications, resulting in increased transmittance across the visible and infrared spectra. However, ZnS exhibits low fracture toughness and irregular crystal orientations, making it prone to brittle fracture during the conventional cutting processes. Such brittleness often leads to surface defects that scatter light, diminishing optical transmittance. Therefore, understanding the conditions conducive to ductile processing is critical and necessitates a thorough brittle fracture analysis. This study introduces a novel quantitative analysis method to determine the occurrence of ductile processing and brittle fracture in ZnS materials after the turning process. To validate the efficacy of this approach, experimental machining was conducted through diamond turning and magnetorheological fluid polishing processes. Subsequently, a comprehensive quantitative assessment of brittle fracture was performed. Additionally, the relationship between brittle fracture and optical transmittance was explored using the proposed analysis method.

Infrared (IR) optic lens can be fabricated by a single point diamond turning (SPDT) machine without subsequent polishing process. However, this machining process often leaves microcracks that deteriorate the surface quality. In this work, we propose an experimental design to remove micro-cracks on IR lens. The proposed design gathered data between cutting process condition and Rt surface roughness. This is of great importance because the scale of microcracks is a few micrometer. Rt surface roughness is suitable for analyzing maximum peak height signals of the profile. The experimental results indicate that feed per revolution variable is one of the most dominant variable, affecting the generation micro-cracks on IR lens surfaces.