Experimental simulation of radiation damage of polymers in space applications by cosmic-ray-type high energy heavy ions and the resulting changes in optical properties

Devices operating in space, e.g. in satellites, are being hit by cosmic rays. These include so-called HZE-ions, with High mass (Z) and energy (E). These highly energetic heavy ions penetrate deeply into the materials and deposit a large amount of energy, typically several keV per nm range. Serious damage is created. In space vehicles, polymers are used which are degraded under ion bombardment. HZE ion irradiation can experimentally be simulated in large scale accelerators. In the present study, the radiation damage of aliphatic vinyl- and fluoro-polymers by heavy ions with energies in the GeV range is described. The ions cause bond scission and create volatile small molecular species, leading to considerable mass loss of the polymers. Since hydrogen, oxygen and fluorine-containing molecules are created and these elements are depleted, the remaining material is carbon-richer than the original polymers and contains conjugated CC double bonds. This process is investigated by measuring the optical band gap with UV–Vis absorption spectrometry as a function of ion fluence. The results show how the optical band gaps shift from the UV into the Vis region upon ion irradiation for the different polymers.