Metallic mirrors formed from amorphous alloys

Abstract

Metallic mirrors made of bulk-solidifying amorphous alloys, the bulk-solidifying amorphous alloys providing ruggedness, lightweight structure, excellent resistance to chemical and environmental effects, and low-cost manufacturing, and methods of making such metallic mirrors from such bulk-solidifying amorphous alloys are provided.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention is directed to metallic mirrors made of bulk solidifying amorphous alloys and mirror systems comprising components made of bulk solidifying amorphous alloys.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Mirrors are optical devices designed to reflect and / or collect light for certain purposes. For the purposes of this disclosure, light is defined as an electromagnetic wave, which includes, but is not limited to, the frequencies of visible light. The most critical aspect of the mirror is the reflecting surface, which must be extremely smooth. Generally, the surface roughness of the reflecting surface is at the order of the wavelength of the reflected light, and preferably less than the wavelength of the reflected light. For high performance mirrors, surface roughness values of less than about 3 nm “rms” are desired and for certain mirror applications, surface roughness values of less than about 0.5 nm “rms” are preferred. The reflecting surface can...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0017]In still yet another embodiment of the invention, the amorphous alloy can sustain strains up to 1.5% or more without any permanent deformation or breakage.

Problems solved by technology

Although silica-based glasses are broadly used in mirror applications, they have severe shortcomings due to their brittleness and extreme fragility.

Moreover, silica based glasses need a reflective coating, generally a deposited metallic layer, which increases the processing costs and causes further complexities.

However, the desired smoothness of the reflective surface cannot be readily achieved in metals.

The polycrystalline grain nature of the microstructure, the multi-phases (especially in high strength and hardness alloy formulations), and impurities that can degrade the reflectivity of the material are the main obstacles for the use of conventional metals and alloys as reflective surfaces in high performance mirror systems.

For example, the cost of achieving surface smoothness in metallic mirrors better than 3 about nm becomes very costly if at all possible.

Furthermore, the directional characteristics of crystalline structure can also become an obstacle for achieving high surface smoothness as well as dimensional, environmental and thermal stability of metallic mirrors.