Hot Isostatic Pressed Beryllium For Large Optics

Large beryllium (Be) mirrors are being proposed for several applications including NASA, SDI and others. Traditional fabrication methods produce anisotropy and inhomogeneity of properties that may result in thermally-induced dimensional instabilities. In addition, the current methods are slow and costly and may be limited to mirror sizes that can be machined from billets of about 1.7-meters diameter. This paper discusses hot isostatic pressing (HIP), the preferred fabrication method for large Be mirrors since it can produce dimensionally stable mirrors in less time and at lower cost than with conventional methods.