Molecular beam-surface scattering experiments have been used to study the mechanisms of material removal when a hydrocarbon surface erodes in the highly-oxidizing environment of low Earth orbit or in a simulated space environment on Earth. During steady-state oxidation, CO and CO2 are produced. Formation of these volatile species is believed to account for most of the mass loss of a polymer under O-atom attack. A new phenomenon reported here is that the rate of CO2 production from the surface is dramatically enhanced when high-kinetic energy (>9eV) N2 molecules collide with a surface that is undergoing continuous oxidation. The CO2 yield from the surface appears to depend exponentially on collision energy. Such a collisional process may be very important in some exposure environments (e.g., in space, where N2 strikes oxidized surfaces with collision energies on the order of 9 eV, and in certain test facilities that subject oxidized surfaces to bombardment by O2 molecules with kinetic energies greater than 9 eV).


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    Title :

    Mechanisms of polymer erosion in low earth orbit: implications for ground-based atomic oxygen testing


    Contributors:
    Minton, T.K. (author) / Seale, J.W. (author) / Garton, D.J. (author) / Zhang, Jianming (author)


    Publication date :

    1999


    Size :

    13 Seiten, 21 Quellen


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English