Functionalize of Atomic Oxygen Durability for the Inflatable Structure Materials on Low Earth Orbit

2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23656541
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Aerospace engineering
• Research Institution: Kyushu Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: IWATA MINORU 九州工業大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (80396762)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): TAGAWA Masahito 神戸大学, 准教授 (10216806) ; YOKOTA Kumiko 神戸大学, 助手 (20252794)
• Project Period (FY): 2011 – 2013
• Keywords: 構造・材料 / 耐原子状酸素性材料

Research Abstract

The high atomic oxygen resistance is required on the inflatable structure materials used for the nano-satellite deorbit device. The heat seal property and the durability against ultraviolet ray and charged particle radiation are also required on the inflatable structure materials. However, there is no material having the required properties.
In this study, we tried to induce a F, Si, P, and etc. atom that gave the materials the atomic oxygen resistance to a chemical structure of polyimide widely used for space by using post process. As a result, the atom gave the atomic oxygen resistance was detected on the processed materials. Therefore, we could expect the high atomic oxygen resistance on the processed materials.