Synthesis and In-Situ Atomic Oxygen Erosion Studies of Space-Survivable Hybrid Organic/Inorganic Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane Polymers

摘要

Polymeric materials offer many advantages for low Earth orbit applications including ease of processing and reduced payload-to-orbit costs derived from a reduction in weight. However, over the last two decades it has been well established that polymers used in the construction of space vehicles undergo severe degradation resulting in reduced spacecraft lifetimes. These materials degrade because spacecraft surfaces must endure a high atomic oxygen (AO) flux, bombardment by low and high-energy charged particles, and thermal cycling along with the full spectrum of solar radiation. Many studies have been conducted in an effort to determine the mechanism of degradation primarily caused by surface reactions with oxygen atoms. Unfortunately, these studies have all been carried out after exposing these highly reactive surfaces to air prior to analysis, thus introducing artifacts that do not represent the true effect of the space environment.