Modeling of the thermal expansion behaviour of ZERODUR at arbitrary temperature profiles

Modeling of the thermal expansion behavior of ZERODUR® for the site conditions of the upcoming Extremely Large Telescope's (ELT's) allows an optimized material selection to yield the best performing ZERODUR® for the mirror substrates. The thermal expansion of glass ceramics is a function of temperature and a function of time, due to the structural relaxation behavior of the materials. The application temperature range of the upcoming ELT projects varies depending on the possible construction site between -13°C and +27°C. Typical temperature change rates during the night are in the range between 0.1°C/h and 0.3°C/h. Such temperature change rates are much smaller than the typical economic laboratory measurement rate, therefore the material behavior under these conditions can not be measured directly. SCHOTT developed a model approach to describe the structural relaxation behavior of ZERODUR®. With this model it is possible to precisely predict the thermal expansion behavior of the individual ZERODUR® material batches at any application temperature profile T(t). This paper presents results of the modeling and shows ZERODUR® material behavior at typical temperature profiles of different applications.