Manufacturing Technology of Space Optical Materials

Abstract:

In this paper, the performance comparison between glass ceramics (Zerodur) and silicon carbide (SiC) which are two kinds of common materials used for space optical reflector is carried out, and several lightweight structure forms are analyzed. The oval plane reflector is applied in ultra-low temperature environment of space, take this kind of reflector as an example, its lightweight structure is optimized by CAD, then through finite element analysis, deformation of the planar lightweight mirror is 0.014λ (rms) in gravity condition, and deformation is 0.002λ (rms) in ultra-low temperature of-150 degrees environment. The actual lightweight processing is controled by the CNC system in a graphical way, and using chemical method to eliminate the stress and micro crack generated during processing, its final surface shape precision reaches 0.022λ (rms). Finally, this paper introduces the manufacture method of novel silicon carbide (SiC), and analyzes the current situation and development trends of the spatial lightweight reflector manufacturing technology.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volumes 785-786)
• Pages: 1018-1021
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.785-786.1018
• Online since: September 2013
• Authors: Ya Chen
• Keywords: Silicon Carbide (SiC), Space Optical Materials, Zerodur

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