Impact damage effects on anodized thermal control coating by microdebris

Using the explosive dust accelerator and 120kV series electrostatic dust accelerator, impact damage effects by Al metal particles, 10-12- 10-8g in mass and 1-5km/s in velocity, are studied on anodized thermal control coatings. The experiments indicate that the surface is damaged after impact and damage morphology and damage area are relevant to impact velocity. Surface damages would cause the optical property of white anodic aluminum alloy thermal control coating (anodized aluminum) degrading, solar absorptance increasing from 0.2 to 0.65-0.80, which its change is related to damage area. On the other hand, the optical property of black anodic aluminum alloy thermal control coating (black coating) with the property of absolute reflector has little variation. The thermal radiation properties of these two materials are hardly influenced by impact damage alike. Copyright 2007 by the IAF or the IAA. All rights reserved.