TiO2-Siloxane Thermal Control Coatings for Protection of Spacecraft Polymers

This article describes the properties of TiO2-siloxane that can be applied to spacecraft polymers to protect from AO environmental influences on the life and performance of space mission. This protective coating is obtained by mixing TiO2, siloxane and silicate minerals via dispersion and ground. Kaptons with and without TiO2-siloxane overcoating are exposed to AO impingement from ground simulation laboratory. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), LAMBDA-9 spectrophotometer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are used to characterize the chemical and physical changes on the surfaces of the unprotected Kapton and protected Kapton samples. The application of protective coatings and their resistance to the space environment are described for ground based test. From the test results it can be seen that Kapton is heavily eroded, while there is little change on surface of TiO2-siloxane. So it can be concluded that TiO2-siloxane coatings are highly resistant to AO and that it is a kind of protective coating for Kapton.