Alumina Optical Surface Heat Shield for Use in Near‐Solar Environment
Source abstract
Abstract
Experiments indicate that coating a heat shield with alumina can significantly reduce spacecraft temperature during operation near the sun. A thin alumina (Al 2 O 3 ) coating applied to carbon–carbon (C–C) reflects the majority of the visible solar irradiance while reemitting absorbed energy in the infrared. Testing on Al 2 O 3 ‐coated C–C coupons using visible and NIR lasers (from ambient to 1773 K) show that the solar‐absorptance‐to‐IR emittance ratio (α S /ɛ IR ) of the Al 2 O 3 ‐coated heat shield was 0.6 or less. Compared with an uncoated carbon–carbon heat shield, the coated version is at least 12% cooler, enabling thermal insulation mass reductions, improved scientific measurements, and the use of less exotic thermal protection materials.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Calibration and Measurement Techniques · Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory · Radiative Heat Transfer Studies
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (6)
Show source-provided references
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6. 10.1063/1.115002810.1063/1.1150028 ↗