[13a-4E-1~3] 7.5 Atomic/molecular beams and beam-related new technologies

[13a-4E-1] Effect of heavy atom addition on the atomic oxygen-induced etching

〇Masahito Tagawa¹, Yuki Yamasaki¹, Kumiko Yokota¹ (1.Kobe Univ.)

Keywords:space environment,Atomic oxygen

Polyimide erosion under simultaneous exposures to atomic oxygen (AO) and Ar beams in various condition is studied related to the material erosion phenomena in the sub-low Earth orbit. The dual beam laser-detonation beam facility was used in this experiment which is capable to expose hyperthermal AO and Ar beams separately. It was clearly observed that the addition of hyperthermal Ar in the beam increases erosion yield of polyimide calculated based on the AO flux, even though pure Ar beam exposure does not erode polyimide. This experimental result clearly indicated that the erosion yield of standard polyimide, which has been believed to be 3.00E-24 cm³/atom in all altitude range, increases in the sub-LEO region where hyperthermal 9 eV-N₂ collision becomes dominant as well as 5 eV-AO collision