Abstract
SCK5 is a white antistatic silicone paint developed by CNES and manufactured by MAP (France). The present work summarizes durability tests of this paint in a simulated low earth orbit (LEO) atomic oxygen (ATOX) environment. The paint was applied on various substrates including Kapton film, Duroid 5880 (a glass/Teflon PTFE composite) and TMM3 (a ceramic/thermoset polymer). Two types of ATOX simulation systems were used: an RF oxygen plasma, and a laser detonation source (manufactured by PSI) producing a 5 eV ATOX beam. Both types of simulation facilities generate VUV radiation in addition to oxygen species. Dedicated experiments were performed to distinguish between VUV and ATOX effects. The SCK5 coated samples were also exposed to RF argon plasma, in order to separate between chemical effects of atomic oxygen and physical effects introduced by the RF plasma.
The effects of ATOX exposure were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). A comparative study of the erosion yield, the surface morphology and the chemical composition resulting from exposure to equivalent ATOX fluences in both types of simulation systems was performed.
The SCK5 exposed to RF plasma showed significant cracking, partial delamination and enhanced embrittlement even for low ATOX fluence, equivalent to 2×1019 atoms/cm2. Similar exposures to the 5 eV ATOX (PSI source) exhibited no cracking. In both cases the exposed samples showed a decrease of the carbon atomic concentration and an increase of the oxygen concentration in the upper surface layer, indicating the formation of a silicon oxide skin, which was more significant for the samples exposed to the RF plasma asher. It may be concluded that the erosion of SCK5 by the RF oxygen plasma is considerably more severe than by the 5 eV ATOX, at least for the specific case of porous coating of siliconic material, tested in the present work.
This is most probably associated with a combination of factors, including the nature of the reactive species in the plasma asher, their omnidirectional flux and the high porosity of SCK5 coating, leading to a strong compressive stresses and consequently cracking of the brittle silicon oxide skin.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Guérard, F. and Guillaumont, J.C. (1997), “Thermal control paints and various materials for space use”, Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on “Materials in a Space Environment”, Toulose, France, 457–458.
Golub, M.A., Wydeven, T., and Cormia, R.D. (1988), “ESCA study of Kapton exposed to low Earth orbit or downstream from a radio-frequency oxygen plasma”, Polymer Commun. 29, 285–288.
Banks, B.A., Rutledge, S.K., de Groh, K.K., Stidham, C.R., Gebauer, L., and LaMoreaux, C.M. (1995), “Atomic oxygen durability evaluation of protected polymers using thermal energy plasma systems”, NASA Technical Memorandum 106855, 1–15.
Caledonia, G.E., Krech, R.H., and Green, B.D. (1987), “A high flux source of energetic oxygen atoms for material degradation studies”, AIAA J. 25, 59–63.
Caledonia, G.E., Krech, R.H., Oakes, D.B., Lipson, S.J., and Blumberg, W.A.M. (2000), “Products of the reaction of 8 km/s N(4S) and O2”, J. Geophys. Res. 105(A6), 12,833–12,837.
Minton, T.K., Garton, D.J. (2001), “Dynamics of atomic-oxygen-induced polymer degradation in low earth orbit”, in “Chemical Dynamics in Extreme Environments: Advanced Series in Physical Chemistry”, ed. Dressler, R.A., World Scientific, Singapore.
Koontz, S.L., Albyn, K., and Leger, L.J. (1991), “Atomic oxygen testing with thermal atom systems: a critical evaluation”, J. Spacecraft, 28, 315–323.
Grossman, E., Gouzman, I., Viel, V., and Dinguirard, M., “Modification of the Atomic Oxygen Laser Detonation Source: separation of atomic oxygen and UV radiation”, to be published.
Minton, T.K. (1995), “Protocol for atomic oxygen testing of materials in ground based facilities, ver. No. 2”, JPL publication 95–17.
Chastain, J. and King, R.C., Jr. (eds.) (1995) Handbook of XPS, Physical Electronics, Inc. USA.
Townsend, J.A. (1996) A comparison of atomic oxygen degradation in low earth orbit and in a plasma etcher, Proc. 19th Space Simulation Conf., Baltimore MD, 249–258.
Kearns, D.M., Gillen, D.R., Voulot, D., McCullough, R.W., Thompson, W.R., Cosimini, G.J., Nelson, E., Chow, P.P., and Klaassen, J. (2001) Study of the emission characteristics of RF plasma source of atomic oxygen: measurements of atom, ion, and electron fluxes, J.Vac. Sci. Technol. A, 19, 993–997.
Grossman, E., Noter, Y., and Lifshitz Y. (1997) Oxygen and VUV irradiation of polymers: atomic force microscopy (AFM) and complementary studies, Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Materials in a Space Environment, 16–20 June, Toulouse, France, ESA-SP-399, 217.
Goldstein, J.I., Newbury, D.E., Echlin, P., Joy, D.C., Roming, A.D., Jr., Lyman, C.E., Fiori, C., and Lifshin, E. (1992) Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-ray Microanalysis, Plenum Press, New York.
Walls, J.M. (1990) Methods of Surface Analysis, Cambridge University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2004 Springer Science + Business Media,Inc.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Gouzman, I. et al. (2004). Ground Testing of SCK5 White Silicone Paint for LEO Applications. In: Kleiman, J.I., Iskanderova, Z. (eds) Protection of Materials and Structures from Space Environment. Space Technology Proceedings, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2595-5_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2595-5_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-1690-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-2595-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive