Charging Characteristics of Construction Materials of Spacecraft Irradiated by Electron Beam

DOI Web Site Web Site 1 Citations 4 References

Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • 人工衛星構造材料の電子線照射に伴う帯電特性
  • ジンコウ エイセイ コウゾウ ザイリョウ ノ デンシセン ショウシャ ニ トモ

Search this article

Abstract

Composite materials like carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) or fiber reinforced plastics (FRP) are used for construction materials of spacecraft. In case fiber reinforced plastics (FRP) are used for construction materials of spacecraft, germanium (Ge) sputtered FRP is used because of its ability of thermal control. On an orbit of high altitude, the charging on polymer materials can cause troubles in measurements on spacecraft.<br>To investigate the charging phenomena on these kinds of materials in vacuum, electron beams are irradiated on test pieces of FRP, Ge-sputtered FRP and CFRP. The experiments are conducted in a high-vacuum chamber attached with an electron beam gun.<br>The results show that the absolute values of the surface potential of Ge-sputtered FRP keep lower values than that of FRP. The irradiation on negatively charged Ge-sputtered FRP decreases the magnitude of the surface potential. Ge-sputtered FRP with a thicker layer of Ge shows a similar and pronounced tendency. Irradiation with higher current density also causes more rapid decrease of the potential. The results for CFRP also show low values of the saturated surface potential. These characteristics are different from those of simple polymer test pieces such as a fluoroethylenepropylene (FEP) film. In spite that the penetration depth of electrons is confined in Ge layer, the surface potential of Ge-sputtered FRP shows lower values than the potential expected for single materials. The mechanism of this phenomenon seems to be related to secondary electron emission.

Journal

Citations (1)*help

See more

References(4)*help

See more

Keywords

Details 詳細情報について

Report a problem

Back to top