Electroforming nickel into a full line of electroformed reflectors and optical products.
 

cell for electroforming low mass structures and coldshields

COPPER
BATH

Optiforms blackened coldshield baffles

BLACKENED
COLD SHIELD
BAFFLES

Optiforms state-of-the-art coldshield laboratory

COLD SHIELD
LAB

Optiforms coldshield and mandrel

COLD SHIELD
AND MANDREL

Electroformed coldshields

ELECTROFORMED
COLD SHIELDS

Cold shield inspection

COLD SHIELD
INSPECTION

New Video Inspection equipment for cold shields

VIDEO
OPTICAL INSPECTION

Electroformed Cold Shields, EMI Shields, and Radiation Shields

Infrared detectors (camera arrays etc.) require shielding from stray and unwanted IR radiation to obtain optimal signal-to-noise figures on a desired target. Many of these cold shields are cryogenically, or electronically, cooled as in military and aerospace applications. They may however, not remain in the cooled state all the time and need to be available with minimal delay. The ultra-low mass and thin walled characteristics of the Optiforms cold shield allow minimum cool down time before maximum detector performance is achieved.

Cold shields are typically used in IR devices for military, scientific and industrial applications to protect IR sensors from stray IR radiation (lowering noise figures). Most cold shield applications require near instantaneous cooling. The low mass of the structure is a very important aspect in meeting that objective.

Optiforms experience in electroforming enables us to manufacture existing parts and build high quality cold shields to customer specifications. Optiforms capabilities include IR reflectance and absorbance coatings complimentary to any cold shield.

Cold Shield Production Process

Optiforms manufactures cold shield reflectors to your exact material, form factor, and coating specifications to guarantee the thermal performance required in infrared (IR) focal plane arrays and infrared cameras.

If your application requires a custom IR cold shield that is rugged and lightweight, Optiforms can help design and manufacture it to your specifications. Optiforms can produce thin walled (0.002") complex form factor cold shields with a variety of IR reflectance and absorbance coatings required for your specific system performance in our state-of-the-art plating and cold shield laboratories.

Electroformed cold shields are grown by electroplating on a precision cut "reverse image" mandrel. The resulting cold shield replicates the surface of the mandrel. Production techniques control the wall thicknesses to precise tolerances with ultra-low mass. This results in better cooling characteristics and infrared micro-imaging spectrometer signal-to-noise performance.

Cold shields typically utilize a temporary or expendable mandrel designed to match the exact inside dimension of the finished part. This is the material onto which the electroformed part will be deposited - usually in nickel (Ni) or copper (Cu). It is used as the cathode in the process.

The metal is deposited on the mandrel with exacting process control tolerances with careful attention to density, stress and crystalline structure which are highly influenced by the plating solution, pH, temperature and cathode current density.

Once the deposition is complete and the desired thickness achieved, the entire piece is subject to a chemical reduction that reacts only with the expendable mandrel leaving only the "hollow" cold shield, a free standing structure.

The cold shield will be coated with specified plating materials inside (CuO) and outside (Au) for optimum performance characteristics, absorbing or reflecting adjacent thermal (IR) noise.

Please contact Optiforms Sales Department for specific information.

Optiforms Cold Shields