Additive manufacturing in ceramics: targeting lightweight mirror applications in the visible, ultraviolet and X-ray

TL;DR

This paper explores additive manufacturing of ceramics like silicon carbide and fused silica to produce lightweight, multi-wavelength reflective mirrors for astronomy, detailing methods, post-processing, and surface quality results.

Contribution

It introduces new AM ceramic printing techniques and post-processing methods for creating high-quality reflective mirrors for optical and X-ray applications.

Findings

Successful fabrication of AM ceramic mirrors with acceptable surface roughness

Post-processing techniques improve mirror surface quality

Potential for integrated, lightweight optical components in astronomy

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM; 3D printing) has clear benefits in the production of lightweight mirrors for astronomy: it can create optimised lightweight structures and combine multiple components into one. New capabilities in AM ceramics, silicon carbide infiltrated with silicon and fused silica, offer the possibility to combine the design benefits of AM with a material suitable for visible, ultraviolet and X-ray applications. This paper will introduce the printing methods and post-processing steps to convert AM ceramic samples into reflective mirrors. Surface roughness measurements after abrasive polishing of the AM ceramics will be presented.