Effect of Oxygen Plasma on Polymer Nanocomposites with Carbon Fillers

The effect of oxygen plasma on the structural and optical properties of an epoxy resin with graphene and carbon nanotubes of the Taunit-M series was studied to estimate the resistance of polymer nanocomposites to atomic oxygen attack in low Earth orbits. It was shown that the addition of carbon fillers to epoxy resin resulted in an increase in mass loss and erosion depth when exposed oxygen plasma. The mass erosion coefficient at an atomic oxygen fluence of 30 × 1020 cm–2 is 0.82 × 10–23 g/at. for pure epoxy resin and 0.86 × 10–23 and 1.0 6× 10–23 g/at. for samples with graphene and Taunit-M fillers, respectively. A larger weight loss and erosion depth under oxygen plasma was typical for the sample with the Taunit-M filler compared to the sample with the graphene one. Oxygen plasma exposure resulted in a significant decrease in the reflectance coefficients of carbon nanocomposites in the spectral range 0.2–2.5 µm. The lowest diffuse (less than 1%) and specular (less than 0.02%) reflectance coefficients were achieved for the exposed polymer with Taunit-M filler.