This annual review documents our progress towards inexpensive mass production of silicon carbide mirrors and optical structures. Results are provided for a NASA Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) X-Ray Mirror project. Trex partnered with the University of Alabama-Huntsville Center for Advanced Optics (UAH-CAO) to develop fabrication methods for polished cylindrical and conical chemical vapor composite (CVC^TM) SiC mandrels. These mandrels are envisioned as pre-forms for the replication of fused silica x-ray optics to be eventually used in the International X-Ray Observatory (IXO). CVC SiC^TM offers superior high temperature stability, thermal and mechanical performance and polishability required for this precision replication process. In this program, Trex fabricated prototype mandrels with design diameters of 10.5cm, 20cm and 45cm. UAH-CAO was Trex's university partner in this effort and worked on polishing and metrology of the unusual x-ray mandrel geometries. UAH-CAO successfully developed an innovative interferometric method for measuring the CVC SiC^TM x-ray mandrels based on a precision cylindrical lens system. UAH-CAO also developed finishing and polishing methods for CVC SiC^TM that utilized a Zeeko IRP200 computer controlled polishing tool. The three technologies key technologies demonstrated in this program (near net shape forming of CVC SiC^TM mandrels, the x-ray mandrel metrology and free-form polishing capability on CVC SiC^TM) could enable cost-effective manufacture of the x-ray mandrels required for the International X-Ray Observatory (IXO).

Date Published: 21 August 2009
PDF: 13 pages
Proc. SPIE 7425, Optical Materials and Structures Technologies IV, 74250B (21 August 2009); doi: 10.1117/12.824202

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7425:
Optical Materials and Structures Technologies IV
Joseph L. Robichaud; William A. Goodman, Editor(s)