Abstract
Thin films of several inorganic protective coatings were prepared in duplicate by sputtering and evaporation. Pure oxygen plasmas were used as a source of atomic oxygen and UV radiation degradation, and in-situ spectroscopic ellipsometry used as a sensitive diagnostic of surface damage or film deposition. After both plasma and LEO exposure on the shuttle (three separate flights) detailed materials degradation evaluations were made using ellipsometry, weight loss, Auger spectroscopy, and reflectrometry. Plasma chambers often contaminate the ground-based experiments and sensitive ways to detect this are discussed. Likewise, contamination together with degradation take place simultaneously during shuttle flights.
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© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Bungay, C.L., Synowicki, R., Spady, B., Hale, J.S., Woollam, J.A. (1999). Laboratory Simulation of Low Earth Orbit. In: Kleiman, J.I., Tennyson, R.C. (eds) Protection of Materials and Structures from the Low Earth Orbit Space Environment. Space Technology Proceedings, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4768-2_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4768-2_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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