Thermal expansion of a fused quartz tube in a dimensional stability test facility.
A facility to monitor the dimensional stability of structures of arbitrary size or shape under varying temperature and pressure conditions is described. Real-time linear displacements are measured with a modified Michelson laser interferometer to a resolution of less than one part in 10(7) and an accuracy of approximately 2 parts in 10(7) for approximately 1 m gauge lengths. Verification of the system accuracy with a quartz tube required considerations of its fabrication and compositional characteristics.
Wolff
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Materials Sciences Laboratory, Laboratory Operations, The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, California 90245.
Eselun
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SA