We contend that carbon fiber reinforced silicon carbide material (C/SiC), developed by IABG, represents the state- of-the-art for ultra-lightweight, high precision optomechanical structures that must operate in adverse environments and over wide ranges of temperature. C/SiC employs conventional NC machining/milling equipment to rapidly fabricate near-net shape parts, providing substantial schedule, cost, and risk savings for high precision components. Unlike power based SiC ceramics, C/SiC does not experience significant shrinkage during processing, nor does it suffer from incomplete densification. By modifying certain process steps, the thermal and mechanical properties of C/SiC are tunable in certain ranges. This paper focuses on recent advances in C/SiC technology and application of this technology to high precision, lightweight applications such as meter-class optics and optical mounts. We also introduce a design for new, high precision mounts based upon standard optical grade C/SiC (formulation A-3) and a custom formulation of C/SiC (D-4) which was engineered for Schafer Corporation by IABG. The A- 3 and D-4 formulations have a near-perfect CTE match with silicon, making them the ideal material to athermally support ultra-lightweight silicon optics that will operate in a cryogenic environment.
Challenges in high-resolution space telescopes have led to the desire to create large primary mirror apertures. One such telescope is the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST, 8-m primary). In order to accommodate launch vehicles, the optical systems using these large apertures are being designed to accommodate extremely lightweight, deployable, segmented primary mirrors. The requirements for these segments include: meter-class diameter, areal densities of the order of 15 kg/m2, aspheric surface figure, near infrared and visible spectrum operation, diffraction limited surface figure, high stiffness, tight radius of curvature matching, and excellent thermal stability. Operating temperatures for various systems include ambient as well as cryogenic ranges. A unique ceramic, carbon fiber reinforced silicon carbide, developed by the Industrieanlagen- Betriebsgesellschaft mbH, has shown potential for use as a mirror substrate. This paper presents the deign and predicted performance of this mirror system in various applications. Also included are issues related to the fabrication of the Advanced Mirror System Demonstrator.
Optical and optomechanical structures based on silicon carbide (SiC) ceramics are becoming increasingly important for ultra- lightweight optical systems that must work in adverse environments. At IABG and Dornier Satellite Systems (DSS) in Munich, a special form of SiC ceramics carbon fiber reinforced silicon carbide (C/SiCR) has been developed partly under ESA and NASA contracts. C/SiCR is a light-weight, high- strength engineering material that features tunable mechanical and thermal properties. It offers exceptional design freedom due to its reduced brittleness and negligible volume shrinkage during processing in comparison to traditional, powder-based ceramics. Furthermore, its rapid fabrication process produces near-net-shape components using conventional NC machining/milling equipment and, thus, provides substantial schedule, cost, and risk savings. These characteristics allow C/SiCR to overcome many of the problems associated with more traditional optical materials. To date, C/SiCR has been used to produce ultra-lightweight mirrors and reflectors, antennas, optical benches, and monolithic and integrated reference structures for a variety of space and terrestrial applications. This paper describes the material properties, optical system and structural design aspects, the forming and manufacturing process including high-temperature joining technology, precision grinding and cladding techniques, and the performance results of a number of C/SiCR optical components we have built.
A new material designated C/SiC is the basis for a current ultra-lightweight scan mirror (ULSM) ESA/ESTEC technology development contract for the METEOSAT Second Generation (MSG) Program (Ref. {1}). It consists of random- oriented carbon fibers as 'greenbody' which is shaped to the designed configuration, and is infiltrated in the liquid phase with Si resulting in a SiC enriched surface layer, with a CVD grown SiC optical polishing layer. The reflective coating finally is silver under a dedicated protection layer. The requirements for this mirror are rather stringent: during 7 years in a geostationary orbit of life it will permantly be exposed to centrifugal forces induced by the satellite spinning at 100 rpm. Due to high image quality requirements for the imager - designated SEVIRI (Spinning Enhanced Visible IR Imager) - the MTF degradation caused by the scan mirror alone are defined to <EQ 3%, resulting in rather high surface quality requirements. The main contribution is the spin induced mirror tip deflection which turned out to be the design driver. The technologically most challenging requirement is to develop a scan mirror with 800 X 500 mm2 effective aperture and a central cutout - the telescope is a Gregory concept - to withstand tight environmental requirements at a mass which was specified as < 6 kg. The ESA contract covers a baseline concept with the subsequently presented design of a monolithic C/SiC mirror, mated to a CFRP structure by isostatic mounts. At the end of this technology program, a fully tested 1:1 scale mirror with silver and protection coating will be rendered to ESA. Since this contract is a technology contract, applications beyond the MSG scan mirror are borne in mind, including higher optical surface qualities such as (lambda) /30 or curved surfaces, also aspheric mirrors of possibly even larger diameters. The manufacturing and optical process implement subcontractors which are not listed among the authors, i.e. SGL Carbon/Meitingen, FRG, for the Si infiltration; Schunk Kohlenstofftechnik/GieBen, FRG, for the CVD SiC coating; REOSC Optique, Ballainvilliers, France for the optical polishing, and Jenoptik, Jena, FRG, for the silver and protection coating.
Conference Committee Involvement (1)
Optical Materials and Structures Technologies
4 August 2003 | San Diego, California, United States
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