High quality telescope mirrors made from polymer matrix composite materials and method

A method of fabricating flexible high quality telescope mirrors, comprising the steps of:

• (a) forming a crushed Al powder by fine crushing aluminum (Al) for the duration of 7-10 days, thus forming the crushed powder containing particles of Al of 20 micron or less in diameter,
• (b) dispersing id crushed Al powder in ethanol,
• (c) adding 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (C9H23NO3Si) at a concentration of 34.2 wt %,
• (d) stirring the resulting solution,
• (e) removing Al powder from ethanol, thus obtaining a treated Al powder,
• (f) rinsing the treated Al powder with distilled water and acetone sequence, and
• (g) drying the rinsed Al powder in a vacuum atmosphere;
• (h) forming a liquid mix solution containing at least one filler material and a polymer material, wherein said at least one filler material includes said treated Al powder, and wherein said polymer material includes an epoxy material permitting a partial curing at a first temperature and a complete curing at a second temperature higher than said first temperature;
• (i) exposing said liquid mix solution to a technique selected from the group consisting of:
• replication process, spin-coating process, 3-Dimensional (3-D) printing, and respective combinations thereof, to form an initial portion of the mirror of a predetermined configuration and dimensions;
• (j) curing said initial portion of the mirror at said first temperature for a first predetermined time period;
• (k) repeating said steps (b) and (c) to form at least one subsequent portion of the mirror covering said initial portion until a final configuration and final dimensions of the mirror are achieved;
• and
• (l) post-curing said mirror at said second temperature for a second predetermined time period to solidify said polymer material.

A high quality flexible telescope mirror system, comprising:

• at least one layer formed from a composite material containing at least one filler material embedded and substantially uniformly dispersed in a polymer matrix material, wherein said at least one filler material is selected from a group including:
• carbon nano-tubes (CNTs), non-ferrous metal material, ferromagnetic material, and combinations thereof;
• a plurality of electrodes embedded in said at least one layer, each of said electrodes extending, at one end thereof, into the material of said at least one layer;
• and
• a control stimuli source applied to said embedded electrodes to control properties of the mirror, wherein said controlled properties of said mirror include at least one property selected from the group including:
• configuration, stiffness and positional orientation;
• and
• wherein, when said at least one filler material is formed with carbon nanotubes (CNTs), the application of said control stimuli to said embedded electrodes results in formation of networks of the carbon nanotubes in said at least one layer.