Effects of Vacuum Ultraviolet Radiation on Thin Polyimide Films

This paper describes the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation durability screening testing of thin (12.7-25.4 I14m) polyimide films proposed for use on the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) sunshield. Materials included in this screening test were KaptonRGE, KaptonRGHN, UpilexRGS, CP1, CP1 with v...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:High performance polymers 2001-09, Vol.13 (3), p.S391-S399
Main Authors: Dever, Joyce A, Messer, Russell, Powers, Charles, Townsend, Jacqueline, Wooldridge, Eve
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This paper describes the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation durability screening testing of thin (12.7-25.4 I14m) polyimide films proposed for use on the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) sunshield. Materials included in this screening test were KaptonRGE, KaptonRGHN, UpilexRGS, CP1, CP1 with vapour deposited aluminium (VDA) on its back surface, and CP2 with a VDA coating on its back surface. Samples were exposed to approximately 1000 equivalent sun hours (ESH) of VUV radiation and examined for changes in solar absorptance, thermal emittance, ultimate tensile strength, and elongation at failure. Changes in the solar absorptance were observed for some materials, and, additionally, significant changes in spectral reflectance were observed in the ultraviolet to visible wavelength region for all of the polyimide materials tested. Changes in the ultimate tensile strength and elongation at failure were within the experimental uncertainty for all samples.
ISSN:0954-0083
DOI:10.1177/095400830101300314