Polishing of X-Ray Optics

Manufacturing grazing incidence x-ray mirrors costs between $4 to $6 million per square meter of optical surface area. To reduce the cost of making x-ray mirrors, NASA is seeking manufacturing solutions to aid in cost reduction factors of 5 to 50 times. One cost driver is the mandrel-based polishing process that impacts the inside surface of an X-ray mirror shell. Current shells are created through a replication process utilizing an aluminum mandrel. OptiPro is proposing to enhance process solutions to reduce costs required for polishing both the mandrel and the outside shell surface by maintaining constant force during polishing, developing new polishing tools, and optimizing the polishing algorithm. The target platform for these improvements will be on an OptiPro#39;s polishing platform. These improvements will be directly applicable to the polishing being done at Marshall Space Flight Center on various equipment including OptiPro#39;s UltraForm Finishing platform.OptiPro#39;s Phase II will focus on prototyping hardware and software solutions to provide a cost effective deterministic solution when combined with an optimized polishing process. A rotisserie part A-Axis and a new dual tool polishing head will be updated to an existing bridge polishing platform. A force feedback system will be prototyped and integrated into a polisher to provide in-situ adjustments during polishing. Prototype polishing tools will be further refined and optimized.nbsp; The polishing algorithms are being enhanced for more efficient polishing and achieving tighter tolerances through improvements to correction algorithms and new adaptive learning routines.nbsp; The software will be upgraded to incorporate all of these changes.nbsp; All innovations will be tested on a demonstrator mandrel and processing will be refined to improve surface quality as efficiently as possible.nbsp; The results of this Phase II will enhance fabrication at MSFC and become commercially available solutions at OptiPro.