Platinum as a release layer for thermally formed optics for IXO
Publication date: 30 July 2010
Authors: Romaine, S., et al.
Journal: Proc. SPIE
Volume: 7732
Year: 2010
Copyright: SPIE
Platinum is being explored as an alternative to the sprayed boron nitride mandrel release coating under study at GSFC for the International X-ray Observatory (IXO). Two and three inch diameter, polished (PFS) and superpolished (SPFS) fused silica flat mandrels, were used for these tests. Pt was applied to the mandrels by DC magnetron sputtering. The substrate material was 400 micron thick D263 glass, the material which has been proposed for the IXO segmented optics. These substrates were placed on the mandrels and thermally cycled with the same thermal profile being used at GSFC in the development of the BN slumping for IXO. After the thermal cycle was complete, the D263 substrates were removed; new D263 substrates were placed on the mandrels and the process was repeated. Four thermal cycles have been completed to date. After initially coating the mandrels with Pt, no further conditioning was applied to the mandrels before or during the thermal cycles. The microroughness of the mandrels and of the D263 substrates was measured before and after thermal cycling. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and 8 keV X-ray reflectivity data are presented.
This paper was presented at the SPIE conference on Astronomical Instrumentation 2010 conference.
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