Fabrication Approaches for the Production of ALON Domes

ALONT optical ceramic provides a superior combination of performance, cost and ease of fabrication when compared to sapphire. While sapphire is a high performance material, it suffers from limited size capability, and high component/fabrication costs. Consequently, ALON is a more attractive material for high volume dome applications such as the Common Mode Missile (CMM). However, the extremely aggressive price points for the CMM program require additional reductions in cost for finished ALON domes. Surmet Corporation is currently fabricating high volumes of ALON components for commercial applications such as supermarket scanner windows. For this application a lower cost commercial grade, CG-ALON material has been developed. In Phase I, Surmet will investigate the use of CG-ALON in combination with novel, near net shaped forming techniques as means of lowering the cost of domes. Surmet will collaborate with Raytheon in characterizing the properties of CG ALON to determine if it is adequate for this application. At the conclusion of Phase I, two 7-inch diameter full hemisphere ALON domes will be fabricated and delivered to the program manager for further evaluation.