Aluminum Mirrors
Customized complex structural shapes with a lightweighting rate greater than 65%
Why Aluminum Mirrors
Aluminum offers multiple advantages as a substrate for optical components. First, aluminum has good machining properties and can be easily cut, milled and formed, making the manufacturing process more efficient. Secondly, the lightweight properties of aluminum make the optical components produced lighter, which is suitable for applications that require load reduction and improved mobility. In addition, aluminum has good thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient, which helps maintain the stability and shape accuracy of optical components and performs well when temperatures change. Most importantly, aluminum has good natural reflectivity in the visible and infrared ranges, making it suitable for a variety of optical systems, including aerospace, laser technology, and imaging systems. In summary, aluminum as a base material for making optical elements has the advantages of convenient processing, lightweight, thermal stability, and excellent optical properties, and is widely used in various fields.
High-precision Aluminum Mirrors By Yudi
Yudi provides high-performance aluminum mirrors with high reflectivity and minimal scattering, covering a variety of surface profiles, such as off-axis paraboloids and other freeform surfaces, and an ultra-large aperture range that can be used to build a variety of compact, lightweight, high-performance optical systems.
Aluminum Mirrors Manufactured by Yudi
At Yudi, we manufacture aluminum mirrors with both aluminum and its alloys, to make the most advantage of their outstanding properties to meet customers’ different application needs
Aluminum mirror
It has good thermal conductivity and chemical stability, and is often used in general optical applications, such as industrial inspection, laser processing, etc.
Aluminum alloy mirrors
Aluminum alloy mirrors are composed of aluminum and other metal or non-metallic elements. They usually have higher strength and corrosion resistance and are often used in applications that require higher strength and durability, such as aerospace and medical equipment. , scientific research, etc.
Outstanding Advantages of Aluminum Mirrors
Compared with traditional optical materials such as fused quartz, optical glass, single crystal silicon, and silicon carbide, aluminum mirrors obtain many outstanding advantages that origins from aluminum and its alloy substrate:
Superior Processability
The castability and machinability of aluminum render it readily moldable into optical components of diverse shapes and sizes, encompassing intricate curved designs and aspherical mirrors, which are widely used in various applications.
Highly lightweight
Aluminum alloy materials boast a low density, making them easy to work with and enabling a high degree of lightweight in precision optical processing. They prove ideal for crafting large-diameter lightweight mirrors essential for expansive telescopes and optical systems in aerospace.
Thermal stability
Aluminum has high thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient, which enables aluminum mirrors to maintain stable shape and optical performance under extreme temperature conditions, making it suitable for optical systems working in environments with large temperature differences.
Yudi's Superior Technologies in Aluminum Mirror Processing
Aluminum mirrors have prominent advantages in optic applications, but their lower density which means aluminum surfaces are more prone to damage poses challenges in achieving high-precision polishing in optical components manufacturing.
To address this issue, Yudi Optics employs a combination of ultra-precision turning, magnetorheological polishing, and computer-controlled surface forming (CCOS) processing technologies. Additionally, computational hologram (CGH) surface shape detection technology is utilized to enhance the surface shape accuracy of aluminum mirrors. These advancements enable Yudi to meet the stringent requirements of visible light systems and support customers’ complex curved aluminum alloy reflective mirror applications.
CCOS Technology
For complex aluminum mirrors used in demanding optical systems, we will use CCOS technology to conformally and smoothly polish the MRF-polished aluminum mirrors further to improve the optical quality and precision of the surface.
MRF Technology
To overcome the damage to the aluminum mirror surface caused by contact polishing technology, Yudi adopts advanced MRF polishing technology, which uses the shear force between the magnetorheological fluid and the workpiece to remove the material. Therefore, we can better control the entire processing process, control the positive pressure on the workpiece during the polishing process to a tiny range, and efficiently complete various aluminum mirror processing with good subsurface quality, high precision, and high surface quality.
Single Point Diamond Turning
By cutting the aluminum mirror blank with diamond turning, We can effectively produce aluminum mirrors with high mirror precision and a good surface finish. The high-precision surface processing can be achieved, including complex aspherical surfaces and micron-level surface finish.
Different Precision to Meet Different Needs
Optical Requirement
General Precision
High Precision
Ultra High Precision
Size
10-600mm
10-600mm
10-600mm
Dimensional tolerance
±0.050mm
±0.025mm
±0.010mm
Surface accuracy
1.0λ
λ/10
λ/20
Surface quality
60-40
40-20
20-10
Surface toughness
15nm
10nm
2nm
quality
Every Piece, Fast and Safe Metrology Guaranteed
During the whole processing of every piece of aluminum mirror, we will conduct precision measurements with the most advanced equipment and technology to cover our promise of flawless optics.
Zeiss CMM in Dimensions Measurement: With Zeiss CMM, Yudi conducts four times of dimensional inspections at these processing stages: pre-machining, heat treatment, diamond turning and finish products inspection.
LUPHOScan 420 to Detect Surface Accuracy: We employ LUPHOScan 420 to perform ultra-precision non-contact 3D surface form measurements to ensure fast and safe metrology
ZYGO White Light Inteferometry to Ensure Surface Roughness: To improve the productivity, we will conduct the roughness inspection after diamond turning and in final product inspection.
CGH Metrology to Inspect Complex Surface: The detection of complex curved surfaces represents a crucial phase in the manufacturing journey of intricate optical components. At Yudi, our team boasts seasoned experts with extensive proficiency in employing CGH detection technology to scrutinize large-diameter and intricate curved surfaces.
More Possibilities In Various Applications
During the whole processing of every piece of aluminum mirror, we will conduct precision measurements with the most advanced equipment and technology to cover our promise of flawless optics.
Astronomy
Aluminum mirrors have the advantages of lightweight, corrosion resistance, and excellent optical properties, often used as telescope reflectors. With superior surface finish and reflective properties to provide clear, high-resolution celestial images, thereby helping astronomers conduct astronomical research and observations.
Earth Observation
With the superior optical processability and lightweight characteristics of aluminum alloy materials, all-aluminum optical machines using the same aluminum alloy material for optical lenses and mechanical structures are becoming a new possibility, which can complete high-quality earth observation and night stargazing images.
Free Space Optical Communications
Aluminum mirrors have good reflective properties, can effectively reflect optical signals, and maintain signal stability and clarity in communication systems. Therefore, aluminum mirrors play an important role in free-space optical communications, helping to achieve efficient optical signal transmission and communication.