2000 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A Study on Degradation of Carbon-based Materials due to Atomic Oxygen in Space
| Project/Area Number |
10450043
|
|---|
| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B).
|
| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
|---|
| Section | 一般 |
|---|
| Research Field |
Materials/Mechanics of materials
|
|---|
| Research Institution | UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
SATOH Katsuhiko UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, 大学院・工学系研究科, 助手 (30010911)
|
|---|
| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
FUJIMOTO Koji UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, 先端科学技術研究センター, 助教授 (40182993)
SHIOYA Tadashi UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING PROFESSOR, 大学院・工学系研究科, 教授 (30013733)
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
1998 – 2000
|
| Keywords | Atomic Oxygen / Material Degradation / DC arc-jet / Low earth orbit (LEO) / Composite / Graphite / C / C composite |
|---|
| Research Abstract |
The degradation of structurl material exposed in space is a new problem, since various kinds of materials have been used for structures in low earth orbit (LEO). This study presents an experiment of degradation on the ground and a simulation by the molecular dynamics. In the experiment, atomic oxygen produced at a plasma torch is accelerated fluid dynamically with working gas. Graphite, C/C composite and Si-C.C.( : Sillicon impregnated C/C compsite) were used as the target materials. The mass loss per unit area is approximately proportional to the exposure time and depends strongly on the temperature of material surface. The eroded surface of materials were observed with SEM and EPMA.In case of C/C composit, the matrix region erodes substantially more than carbon fiber. The mass loss of Si-C.C.is less than that of corresponding C/C composite and only the C/C composite region erodes deeply with almost no erosion in Si and SiC regions. In order to investigate the degradation caused by high-energy atomic oxygen, numerical simulation was conducted for graphite using the molecular dynamics method. The simulation model explains tlxe influence of exposure time on the degradation of material.
|
