On Thermal Deformation Characteristics Of High Accuracy Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic Sandwiched Antenna Panels

The further development of modern single-aperture antennas has put forward higher requirements on the surface accuracy of the reflective panel.Carbon fiber reinforced plastic(CFRP)has been gradually applied to the reflector design of various antennas due to its characteristics of light weight,high stiffness and low coefficient of thermal expansion(CTE).However,present research has found that the surface accuracy of CFRP sandwiched antenna panel has seriously deteriorated under low temperature environment,failing to make use of its advantages of low CTE.In this paper,the thermal deformation characteristics of high accuracy CFRP sandwiched antenna panel are studied,and the prototype panels are measured by digital photogrammetry technology,so as to further reduce the thermal deformation of CFRP panel.The main research contents are as follows:(1)An aluminum panel was used in Ali observatory to fit the environmental parameters required for the heat conduction model.The temperature field distribution of CFRP sandwiched antenna panel was simulated and analyzed by ABAQUS,and the effects of different ambient temperature change rates,heating power,wind speed and grid types on the panel temperature field were obtained.(2)The mechanical properties and CTE of the skin and core materials used in the reflective panel were tested.The finite element equivalent model of the panel was established,the thermal deformation of the multi-structure parameter panel was simulated and calculated under the condition of large temperature difference,the main factors affecting the thermal deformation characteristics of the panel were analyzed,and the differences between the thermal deformation characteristics of the panel using aluminum honeycomb and carbon tube array were compared.(3)The prototype panel was trial-produced through the structural parameters of the panel provided by the simulation optimization.The surface accuracy of the prototype panels with different structural parameters were measured respectively at room temperature and low temperature by using high accuracy digital photogrammetry technology.The error sources of the test and simulation results are analyzed to verify the reliability of the finite element model and modify the finite model to improve the accuracy of the simulation results.