AVS 45th International Symposium
    Applied Surface Science Division Wednesday Sessions
       Session AS-WeA

Paper AS-WeA10
Optical Characterization of FEP Teflon: Pristine and from Hubble Space Telescope@footnote 1@

Wednesday, November 4, 1998, 5:00 pm, Room 307

Session: Polymer Surfaces, Films and Interfaces
Presenter: C.L. Bungay, Univeristy of Nebraska, Lincoln
Authors: C.L. Bungay, Univeristy of Nebraska, Lincoln
J.N. Hilfiker, J. A. Woollam Co., Inc.
J.A. Woollam, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Correspondent: Click to Email
Polymers used on spacecraft are often susceptible to environmental degradation in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Therefore, the behavior of materials used on spacecraft such as the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope (Hubble) must be well characterized to ensure long term survivability of the spacecraft. Optical methods are favorable to study space application materials because they are non-contact and non-destructive. However, polymer films are often biaxially anisotropic and this anisotropy is usually not accounted for when optical measurements are acquired. In this work FEP Teflon (pristine and exposed to the LEO environment on Hubble) are studied using various optical measurements, including transmission ellipsometry, reflection ellipsometry and transmission intensity. By acquiring a series of different optical measurements the optical constants in three orthogonal directions and their optical axis orientations were determined. The optical data were also studied to help determine the extent of degradation of aluminized FEP returned from the first and second Hubble servicing missions. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@Research funded by NASA Lewis contract #NAG3-2086 and NASA Epscor contract #NCC5-169