NASA NTRS · 19910065179
Hyperthermal atomic oxygen reactions with kapton and polyethylene
Abstract
Gas phase reaction products produced by the interaction of high kinetic energy (1-3 eV) 3p ground state atomic oxygen (AO) with polyethylene and kapton were found to be H2, H2O, CO, and CO2 with NO being a possible secondary product from kapton. Hydrogen abstraction at high AO kinetic energy is postulated to be the key reaction controlling the erosion rate of kapton and polyethylene. An Arrhenius-like expression having an activation barrier of 0.4 eV can be fit to the data, which suggests that the rate limiting step in the AO/kapton reaction mechanism can be overcome by translational energy.
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Cross, J. B., Koontz, S. L., Gregory, J. C., Edgell, M. J.. 1990-01-01. Hyperthermal atomic oxygen reactions with kapton and polyethylene. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19910065179
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