Active deformation and engineering analysis of CFRP mirror of various lay-up sequences within quasi-isotropic laminates

A regularization stiffness coefficient method was verified further to optimize lay-up sequences of quasi-isotropic laminates for carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite mirrors. Firstly, the deformation due to gravity of 1G and temperature difference of 20-100°C and the modal were analyzed by finite element method (FEM). Secondly, the influence of angle error of ply stacking on quasi-isotropic of bending stiffness was evaluated. Finally, an active support system of 49 actuators in circular arrangement is designed for a 500mm CFRP mirror, and its goal is to deform the spherical CFRP mirror to a parabolic. Therefore, the response functions of the actuators were gotten, and the surface form errors and stresses were calculated and analyzed. The results show that the CFRP mirrors designed by the method have a better symmetrical bending deformation under gravity and thermal load and a higher fundamental frequency, and the larger n the better symmetry (for π/n quasi-isotropic laminates); the method reduces the sensitivity to misalignment of ply orientation for symmetric bending, and the mirror’s maximum von Mises stress and maximum shear stress are less compared to those laminates not optimized in lay-up sequence.