Small-Scale Mechanical Characterization of Space-Exposed Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene Recovered from the Hubble Space Telescope

[摘要] Multi-layer insulation panels from the Hubble Space Telescope have been recovered after 19.1 years of on-orbit service and micro-tensile experiments have been performed to characterize the effect of space exposure on the mechanical response of the outermost layer. This outer layer, 127 m thick fluorinated ethylene propylene with a 100 nm thick vapor deposited aluminum reflective coating, maintained significant tensile ductility but exhibited a degradation of strength that scales with severity of space exposure. This change in properties is attributed to damage from incident solar flux, atomic oxygen damage, and thermal cycling.

[发布日期] 2012-01-01

[学科分类] 金属与冶金