Silica-Silica Mirror Substrate Fabrication Technology

Mentis Sciences, Inc. Proposes to develop a thin walled Silica-Silica composite that can be used as part of a honeycomb core sandwich panel that will form a mirror substrate that has a low coefficient of thermal expansion that is matched in all directions. The sandwich panel will be manufactured as a quartz polysiloxane composite. Following the cure, organics will be burned out and the system will be backfilled using Tetraethyl orthosilicate as a silica precursor. Following conversion, the resulting silica-silica composite will be suitable for use as a mirror substrate. The resulting product will be an ideal solution for reducing the areal cost of ultraviolet and optical mirror systems while meeting the stringent performance requirements of these systems. The novel manufacturing process used by Mentis will allow for thinner walls than have been used on mirrors in the past, resulting in a lightweight materials solution. During Phase I, Mentis will develop the Silica-Silica manufacturing process, and obtain preliminary modulus, cte and thermal conductivity data. In addition, a top-level feasibility study will be conducted and a small-scale piece of silica-silica honeycomb sandwich panel will be manufactured.