Flexible Variable Emission Material

Thermal management is an enduring need for all space platforms and vehicles. Spacecraft are routinely exposed to extreme temperature fluctuations, and options for regulating temperature in the vacuum of space are limited and challenging. To address space craft temperature fluctuations, Plasmonics Inc. proposes to develop a new class of mission-tailorable, and autoregulating, thermal radiator coatings by leveraging its extensive experience in growing vanadium dioxide (VO2) on flexible substrates. Phase change materials (PCM) have been investigated for use in variable emittance regulators in the past; however, in all cases the PCM processing requirements appear to be incompatible with space craft radiator materials. Metalized Kapton has been used extensively in satellite platforms, playing key roles in radiator and sunshield systems. A recent and highly publicized example is the James Webb Space Telescope’s five-layer sunshield: Aluminized polyimide overcoated with silicon is designed to reflect solar radiation thereby preventing instruments from overheating. Accordingly, Plasmonics Inc. proposes to design, model, fabricate, and test coupons of tungsten-doped vanadium dioxide-base (WxV1-xO2)- variable emissivity materials (VEM). Various concentrations of W will be explored to evaluate its effect on transition temperature and VEM thermal emissivity. After design optimization and testing, the team will fabricate a VEM prototype on flight-certified flexible substrate such as Kapton in subsequent efforts. Demonstration of a successful flexible VEM this technology can be applied to a wide range of markets with the commercial satellite and smart glass as the most promising.