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Goto, Aki*; Yamashita, Shinichi*; Kitamura, Akane; Tagawa, Masahito*
no journal, ,
Atomic oxygen (AO) oxidizes and erodes several polymers used as thermal control films for satellites. The AO-irradiated surface is densely covered with microscopic protrusions. In this study, we focus the morphological change as unique modification. PE, PP and PS surfaces are observed by FE-SEM after AO-irradiation, and it is found that the AO fluence and chemical structures of these polymers are important factors for control the density of protrusions.
Goto, Aki*; Yamashita, Shinichi*; Kitamura, Akane; Tagawa, Masahito*
no journal, ,
Polymer surface is covered densely with nano to microscopic protrusions by AO irradiation. In this study, we focus this unique morphological change. LDPE, PP, and PS film surfaces were observed by FE-SEM after AO-irradiation, and it is found that the AO fluence and the chemical structures of these polymers are important factors to determine the density of these microscopic protrusions.
Goto, Aki*; Yamashita, Shinichi*; Kitamura, Akane; Tagawa, Masahito*
no journal, ,
Atomic oxygen (AO) is a dominant component of the residual atmosphere at low earth orbit altitude. AO collides with spacecrafts at about 8 km/s, corresponding to a translational energy of about 5 eV. It causes a critical damage such as oxidation or erosion of polymers composing the spacecrafts. A previous study has reported that nano- and microscopic needle-like protrusions were formed densely on polymer surface by AO collision. In this study, we focus on the unique morphological change because it must be useful for a modified surface. Commercial films of low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS) were irradiated with AO and their surfaces were observed by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). Microscopic needle-like protrusions were formed uniformly at the surfaces of all samples, however, the uniformity decreased with increasing AO fluence due to degradation of the protrusions. The maximum protrusion density increased in the order of PP 
LDPE PS, showing that the density depends on the chemical structure of the polymer materials.