CVC SiC to Replace Beryllium Mirrors

The Department of Defense has a stated goal to replace Beryllium (Be) in optical applications with a closely matched material that has neither the adverse safety, health, and environmental consequences of Be nor the security of supply issues that current users are facing. Trex has developed an environmentally benign Chemical Vapor Composite Silicon Carbide (CVC SiC) material that is an ideal candidate for beryllium replacement. This material has been tested and certified by independent sources as the strongest, purest, and most thermally stable silicon carbide in the world with the added feature of possessing optical polishing characteristics. These characteristics make CVC SiC the material of choice for beryllium replacement for large aperture mirrors in aerospace applications. Trex CVC Silicon carbide is a very strong and hard material and cannot be machined or processed with the same classical processes associated with the metals and optics fabrication industries. Forming and fabricating silicon carbide into large aperture, light weight, optics requires new and innovative methods that are not readily available at this time. This proposal presents a development project for establishing methods and processes for fabrication of Trex CVC silicon carbide material into complex, light weight, larger aperture mirrors and mirror support structures.