Corrosion-Resistant Front Surface Aluminum Mirror Coatings

    Authors

    K. H. Guenther; I. Penny;R. R. Willey

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Opt. Eng.

    Keywords

    Coatings; Corrosion Testing; Harsh Environment; Ion Platings; Mirrors; Thin Films; Reactive Evaporation; Microstructure; Optics

    Abstract

    Front surface metal mirrors need protection of the inherently fragile metal film deposited on a glass substrate. Conventional evaporated dielectric thin-film overcoats provide limited protection because of their less than dense packing. These films usually have a columnar structure with voids between the columns. The voids give access to the underlying metal film for humidity and corrosive gases or liquids. Some progress in developing better coatings was made in the early 1980s with ion-assisted deposition. Front surface aluminum mirrors with dielectric thin films deposited by reactive low-voltage ion plating have a still higher survival time, by a factor of up to 3 under comparable test conditions. The transmission of our best samples increased to only 10% when immersed in 0.2 M NaOH for 20 h. By comparison, an unprotected aluminum film dissolves in less than 5 min. Electron beam evaporated dielectric coatings provide protection for about 1.5 to 2 h in the same test solution. The reason for the significant improvement brought about by reactive low-voltage ion plating deposition, and its advantage for large-scale production is discussed.

    Journal Title

    Optical Engineering

    Volume

    32

    Issue/Number

    3

    Publication Date

    1-1-1993

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    547

    Last Page

    552

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:A1993KQ38800019

    ISSN

    0091-3286

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