Synergetic effects of 1 MeV electron irradiation on the surface erosion in polyimide by atomic oxygen

Erosion studies of polyimide, exposed to high energy electrons and atomic oxygen, is necessary in view of its application in space vehicles. Here we present the erosion studies and degradation characteristics of polyimide after its sequential exposure to 1 MeV pulsed electron beam from Microtron accelerator and similar to 12 eV oxygen ions from a plasma reactor in the laboratory. The fluence of electrons was varied from 5 x 10(14) to 2.0 x 10(15) electrons/cm(2) and that of oxygen ions from similar to 5 x 10(16) to 2 x 10(17) ions cm(-2). The post irradiated and virgin polyimide samples were characterized by gravimetric analysis and contact-angle measurements. The morphological and spectroscopic information were obtained with Scanning Electron Microscopy, Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectroscopy, and photo-absorption spectroscopy. The erosion yield, surface wettability and the surface roughness were seen to be much higher when exposed to both the radiations as compared to either of them, reflecting the synergetic effects.

Automated summary

The erosion studies and degradation characteristics of polyimide exposed to high energy electrons and atomic oxygen were conducted, showing that the erosion yield, surface wettability, and surface roughness were significantly higher when exposed to both types of radiation as compared to either of them alone, indicating a synergistic effect.