Strength Of Zerodur (R) For Mirror Applications

Zerodur (R) is a well-known glass-ceramic used for optical components because of its unequalled dimensional stability under thermal environment. In particular it has been used since decades in Thales Alenia Space's optical payloads for space telescopes, especially for mirrors. The drawback of Zerodur (R) is however its quite low strength, but the relatively small size of mirrors in the past had made it unnecessary to further investigate this aspect, although elementary tests have always shown higher failure strength. As performance of space telescopes is increasing, the size of mirrors increases accordingly, and an optimization of the design is necessary, mainly for mass saving. Therefore the question of the effective strength of Zerodur (R) has become a real issue.Thales Alenia Space has investigated the application of the Weibull law and associated size effects on Zerodur (R) in 2014, under CNES funding, through a thorough test campaign with a high number of samples (300) of various types. The purpose was to accurately determine the parameters of the Weibull law for Zerodur (R) when machined in the same conditions as mirrors.The proposed paper will discuss the obtained results, in the light of the Weibull theory. The applicability of the 2-parameter and 3-parameter (with threshold strength) laws will be compared. The expected size effect has not been evidenced therefore some investigations are led to determine the reasons of this result, from the test implementation quality to the data post-processing methodology. However this test campaign has already provided enough data to safely increase the allowable value for mirrors sizing.