NASA SBIR 00-1 SOLICITATION
FORM 9B - PROJECT SUMMARY
PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 17.02-9094 (Chron: 000907 )
PROJECT TITLE
Composites of Fiber-Reinforced Ultra Thin Films for X-ray Applications
TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Metalized polyimide films have become a standard for soft x-ray filters due to polyimide’s strength and thermal stability. Utilization of polyimide support has led to increasingly larger and thinner filters, and throughput on missions such as the Chandra X-ray Observatory has been increased significantly. Newer missions such as Constellation-X require higher transmission across a large range of energies. To achieve greater transmission, next generation filters must look to even more advanced materials. The proposed innovation is to reinforce ultra-thin polyimide with extremely high strength materials such as Kevlar (polyaramid) or carbon fibers, to create a robust composite filter. At low x-ray energies (< 600 eV), the reinforcing fiber structure will have significantly higher transmission than the often-required metal mesh which it would replace. At higher energies above 3 keV, the Kevlar or carbon reinforcement will be nearly invisible, and improvements in mission throughput will be even more significant. In all cases it is expected that the increase in transmittance will be 10% or greater. The goal of this Phase I effort will be to show the feasibility of producing these types of composite materials for use in future x-ray astronomy missions and other Astrophysical Observing Systems
POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is the second largest user of Luxel products after NASA. They have benefited greatly from the availability of Luxel’s submicron polyimide films. It is expected that LLNL will also benefit from the availability of the new composite materials developed here. Other commercial users, such as manufacturers of scanning electron microscopes, where the filter must withstand one atmosphere, will benefit as well. Stronger, thinner filters and windows will find use in pressure or vacuum/gas separation applications such as proportional counter windows. These benefits extend to filters for other spectral regions including infrared.
NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
(Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Heidi C.H. de Lopez
Luxel Corporation
P.O. Box 1879
Friday Harbor , WA 98250 - 1879
NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR
(Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Luxel Corporation
P.O. Box 1879
Friday Harbor , WA 98250 - 1879