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Characterization of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) materials under high-energy electron exposure

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Abstract

External spacecraft materials play an important role in satellite protection from the harsh space environment.Research has shown that the physical, chemical, and optical properties of matter change continuously as a result of exposure to solar radiation and aggressive chemical species produced in Earth’s upper atmosphere. Thorough knowledge of the material properties evolution throughout a planned mission lifetime helps to improve the reliability of spacecraft. Moreover, the establishment of correlation factors between true space exposure and accelerated space weather experiments at ground facilities enables accurate prediction of on-orbit material performance based on laboratory-based testing. The presented work evaluates the radiation effects of different doses of high-energy electron exposure on surface morphology, optical, and charge transport properties of two materials from the PET family, Melinex®454 and Mylar®M021.

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Acknowledgements

Authors would like to thank DuPont de Nemours, Inc, for providing materials for this research.

Funding

This work was partially supported by Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Remote Sensing and Imaging Physics Portfolio (Dr. Michael Yakes) Grant 20RVCOR024 and Georgia Tech Research Institute Independent Research and Development (IRAD) program.

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Author notes

  1. Jainisha R. Shah and Elena A. Plis have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Assurance Technology Corporation, 84 South Street, Carlisle, MA, 01741, USA

    Jainisha R. Shah, Sydney Collman & Elena A. Plis

  2. Postdoctoral Fellow, National Research Council Research Associateship Program, Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, NM, 87117, USA

    Miles T. Bengtson

  3. Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate, Kritland AFB, Albuquerque, NM, 87117, USA

    Ryan C. Hoffmann & Dale C. Ferguson

  4. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of New Mexico, 1128 University Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87102, USA

    Daniel P. Engelhart

  5. Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), 925 Dalney St NW, Atlanta, Georgia, 30318, USA

    Elena A. Plis

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  1. Jainisha R. Shah
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Contributions

JRS and EAP conceptualized the idea of the study. JRS, SC, and MTB performed all the experiments reported in this manuscript excluding the surface morphology and FTIR measurements which were performed by EAP. Optical, charge transport, and surface morphology data were analysed by JRS, DPE, and EAP. Manuscript was written by JRS and EAP. RCH, DPE, and DCF reviewed, provided feedback, and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jainisha R. Shah.

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Shah, J.R., Bengtson, M.T., Collman, S. et al. Characterization of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) materials under high-energy electron exposure. CEAS Space J 16, 275–283 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12567-023-00495-y

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