Polymers in Space

Abstract

Polymeric materials are widely used in space engineering because of the beneficial combination of their working properties. Being in harsh space environment conditions, mainly in the form of thin films, they are subjected to the action of numerous destructive factors that are absent during their exploitation on Earth. Most serious problems are connected with changes of thermo‐optical properties, deterioration of mechanical properties, production of components of the intrinsic outer atmosphere of spacecraft that respond to contamination of its surface, and last but not least, mass losses. Here, the main focus is on polymers of two types that are generally used in multilayer insulation (MLI) of spacecraft as thin films – polyimide Kapton H and perfluorocarbon polymers – polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP). Both types of polymers show mass losses, but they are caused by different factors. For Kapton H, it is fast atomic oxygen (FAO) on low Earth orbits (LEO) (altitudes 200–1000 km). For PTFE and FEP, it is mainly the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) component of solar radiation (wavelengths 1–200 nm) (all altitudes for space flights). Possible mechanisms of mass losses are considered.

Material Characterization Required for Designing Satellites from Fiber-Reinforced Polymers

“…Erosion is sensitive to the chemical composition of the polymer. Atomic oxygen reacts with the polymer composite, releasing byproducts that could be both volatiles like CO, CO 2 , or H 2 O and non-volatiles like SiO 2 or TiO 2 [106]. Oxygen atoms are highly reactive due to their bi-radical electronic configuration.…”

Analysis of atomic oxygen and ultraviolet exposure effects on cycloaliphatic epoxy resins reinforced with octa-functional POSS

“…It is well recognized that polymeric materials degrade in space to a much larger extent than metals or ceramics [6,7]. Based on decades of testing of polymer performance in hostile, LEO environments it is known that the most hazardous factor is atomic oxygen (AO), enhanced by the presence of electromagnetic radiation, temperature extremes, high vacuum and debris impact [8,9,10].…”