Abstract:To reduce the mass of the mirror, silicon carbide was used as the material and four light-mass structures were designed. The properties of SiC mirror open back structure with triangular cell, open back structure with hexagonal cell, sandwich structure with triangular cell, sandwich structure with hexagonal cell, were analyzed by using finite element method. The results of the static, dynamic, and thermal properties of the four kinds of SiC mirror indicate that the surface figures of the SiC mirrors are all satisfactory with the design requirements. The properties of the mirrors with sandwich structure are better than those with open back structure, except the high cost. And the mirror with triangular cell has better combination properties than the mirror with hexagonal cell. Considering the overall performance and the cost, open back structure with triangular cell is the most suitable for the SiC mirror.

Key words: silicon carbide; mirror; light-mass; structural form; finite element