Comparison of Pulsed Electroacoustic Measurements and AF-NUMIT3 Modeling of Polymers Irradiated with Monoenergetic Electrons

Abstract

Successful spacecraft design and charging mitigation techniques require precise and accurate knowledge of charge deposition profiles. This paper compares models of charge deposition and transport using a venerable deep dielectric charging code, AF-NUMIT3, with direct measurements of charge profiles via pulsed electroacoustic (PEA) measurements. Eight different simulations were performed for comparison to PEA experiments of samples irradiated by 50 or 80 keV monoenergetic electrons in vacuum and at room temperature. Two materials, polyether-ether ketone (PEEK) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), were chosen for their very low conductivities so that minimal charge migration would occur between irradiation and PEA measurements. PEEK was found to have low acoustic attenuation, while PTFE has high acoustic attenuation through the sample thicknesses of 125 and [Formula: see text] for each material. The measurements were directly compared to AF-NUMIT3 simulations to validate aspects of the code and to investigate the importance of various simulation options, as well as to characterize the PEA instrumentation, measurement methods, and signal processing used. The measurement and simulation values for magnitude of charge deposition, penetration depth, and charge deposition spatial profiles are largely in agreement, though spatial and temporal distributions in incident electron flux and effects of radiation-induced conductivity (RIC) and delayed RIC during the deposition process complicate the process. This work provides an experimental validation of the AF-NUMIT3 deep dielectric charging code and insight into the accuracy and precision of the PEA method.