The mechanical properties of carbon/epoxy composites and their Coefficient of Thermal Expansion(CTE) were tested and the material property after radiation in space was tested. Finally

a processing method of carbon/epoxy composites in the application of space optical structure was studied. The research results show that the weight of optical structure made from carbon/epoxy composite with high specific strength and stiffness can be reduced more 30% than that of aluminum alloy. The CTE of carbon/epoxy composites can be designed as "zero" or "negative" in a certain direction according to requirement. Carbon/epoxy composites have excellent performances under the condition of radiation in space

so that they have a wide application in space optical structure. The experiments give several conclutions

which is Total Mass Loss(TML) of 0.15%

Collected Volatile Condensable Materials(CVCM) of 7.66×10

-5

g/g

and Water Vapor Regained(WVR) of 0.12%.