Hyperthermal atomic oxygen reactions with kapton and polyethylene.

摘要

Gas phase reaction products produced by the interaction of high kinetic energy (1--3 eV) (sup 3)P ground state atomic oxygen (AO) with polyethylene and kapton were found to be H(sub 2), H(sub 2)O, CO, and CO(sub 2) with NO being a possible secondary product from kapton. Hydrogen abstraction at high AO kinetic energy is postulated to be the key reaction controlling the erosion rate of kapton and polyethylene. An Arrhenius-like expression having an activation barrier of 0.4 eV can be fit to the data, which suggests that the rate limiting step in the AO/kapton reaction mechanism can be overcome by translational energy. 16 refs., 13 figs. (ERA citation 15:035063)