Contract No. 60 — STECOSRA

The science and technology of high emissivity coatings for outer space radiator applications

Abstract

High-emissivity coatings of various materials will be grown using the Pulsed Laser Deposition technique to elucidate the relationship between the coatings structure, surface morphology, composition and optical properties to optimize the emissivity for outer space radiator applications. The Combinatorial Pulsed-Laser Deposition, a powerful, rapid and inexpensive technique will also be used to obtain data libraries of complex multicomponent materials such as Al2O3+TiO2, ZrO2+TiO2+Y2O3, ZrO2+Y2O3+HfO2 or mixtures of ZrC, ZrN, TiC, TiN, SiC, DLC, and amorphous carbon, in order to select the mixture exhibiting the best combination of high emissivity and thermal stability / thermal shock resistance. We will also study various ways of inducing texturing through chemical, photochemical, and laser irradiation of the substrates and combine the best optical properties thin films with the best surface texturing effects. The optimum recipes will be implemented by the industrial partner from the consortium using their large area deposition equipment and then tested as radiators for electronic components under outer space simulation conditions. Our research will provide a blueprint of materials, mixture of materials, nanocomposites and surface texturing processes to be implemented for the fabrication of high efficiency thermal radiators tailored for specific applications on instruments and equipment that operate on satellites, orbit based IR telescopes, spacecraft or extra-terrestrial bases.