Electron yields and escape depths from spacecraft materials

Thesis/Dissertation · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:6725806

Yang, K Y

Secondary electron emission (SEE) characteristics and photoelectron yields were determined for several insulating materials used onboard a space shuttle. These materials are: kapton, teflon, spaceshuttle tiles, and space suit cloth. Secondary electron escape depth and photoelectron escape depth from kapton were calculated from the experimental data. Sternglass' theory and Dionne's method were used in the calculation. Some semi-empirical theories of SEE and three-step theory of photoemission were reviewed. Pulsed beam techniques were used to reduce surface charging problems. Three ..mu..sec pulses of electrons were used in SEE experiments, and 100 msec to 1 sec pulses were used in photoemission experiments. The maximum SEE yields of the materials studied range from 1.75 ro 2.70. The secondary electron escape depth in kapton was calculated to be 55 +/- 5 A. All samples have photoyields lower than 1.0%. The photoelectrons excited by 21-eV photons have 87 +/- 30 A escape depth in kapton.

• Research Organization: Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6725806
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
HEAT RESISTANT MATERIALS
PHOTOEMISSION
SECONDARY EMISSION
PLASTICS
SPACE VEHICLES
THERMAL INSULATION
TEXTILES
ELECTRON BEAMS
PHOTON BEAMS
PULSED IRRADIATION
SURFACES
BEAMS
EMISSION
IRRADIATION
LEPTON BEAMS
MATERIALS
PARTICLE BEAMS
PETROCHEMICALS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
SYNTHETIC MATERIALS
VEHICLES
656003* - Condensed Matter Physics- Interactions between Beams & Condensed Matter- (1987-)
360603 - Materials- Properties