Experimental investigations of atomic oxygen, temperature, ultraviolet radiation effects on a spacecraft material-polytetrafluoroethylene

Spacecraft, running in Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO), will react with environmental conditions, such as atomic oxygen, thermal cycling and ultraviolet radiation, which may severely affect the longevity of spacecraft. Fluorination has lower erosion rate than other materials in space flight exposure tests. So the interactions between this kind of material and environment are of great interest to the aerospace engineering community. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE Teflon) is a commonly used spacecraft material, on which experiments are conducted in this paper to investigate the atomic oxygen erosion effects, the impact of the temperature change on the atomic oxygen effects and the ultraviolet radiation effects with atomic oxygen effects ground-based simulation facility. The sample material before and after the experiments is compared in mass and surface morphology. The reaction characteristics of the material in the facility and the impact of temperature change and ultraviolet radiation on atomic oxygen effects were acquired. Through analyzing the reaction mechanism between atomic oxygen and PTFE Teflon, it was concluded that the collision of energetic particles may be an important factor of PTFE Teflon mass loss. Optic properties, such as reflectivity and transmissivity, before and after experiments were measured and compared.