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ADVANTAGES OF COMPOSITE MIRRORS |
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- Composite mirrors weigh from 1/3 to 1/10 of other mirror technologies.
- CFRP materials exhibit low thermal expansion, lower than infar. CFRP telescopes and optics are produced from the same materials eliminating CTE mismatch thus simplifying telescope design.
- All-composite mirrors can be fabricated with aerial densities (mass per unit area) of between 0.7 kg per sq meter to 7.0 kg per sq meter.
- Replication, coupled with state-of-the-art techniques developed by CMA, lend themselves to repeatability in the production of numerous high precision surfaces from a single replicating tool.
- The replication process adds significant cost savings to the fabrication of optical mirrors.
- CFRP mirrors produced from a single mandrel exhibit radius of curvature matching to within 0.5 microns of each other, lending the proces ideal for segmented mirror systems.
- Composite mirrors are very rugged and unbreakable. They are vacuum stable as well as cryogenically stable and can be designed to exhibit a near zero coefficient of expansion (CTE).
- Composite mirrors can be fabricated from a wide range of composite materials allowing cost and design flexibility for a given application.
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