THERMAL-VACUUM RESPONSE OF POLYMER MATRIX COMPOSITES IN-SPACE

This report describes a thermal-vacuum outgassing model and test protocol for predicting outgassing times and dimensional changes for polymer matrix composites. Experimental results derived from control samples are used to provide the basis for analytical predictions to compare with the outgassing response of flight samples measured over the first 370 days in orbit on the NASA Long Duration Exposure Facility satellite. Outgassing in the space environment around this satellite is found to be much slower than in a thermal-vacuum chamber. However, the analytical model can accurately predict the dynamic outgassing response when a modified diffusion coefficient is used.