Resistance of silicon-containing carbonized lignin to atomic oxygen erosion

Abstract

Spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO) are exposed to atomic oxygen (AO). It is thus important to develop an environmentally friendly material that can be applied to the outer surfaces of spacecraft in LEO to protect them against AO. Carbonized material containing electroconductive graphitic microlayers is promising for this purpose. We produced carbonized lignin (CW) by separating wood in L-lactic acid and we investigated the AO erosion resistances of CW and CW containing Si. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that the O/C ratio increased on AO exposure. The CW sample without Si and CW samples containing 20% and 40% Si exhibited less erosion than CW samples containing 5% and 10% Si. XPS revealed that the presence of Si resulted in the formation of SiO2 on the sample surface. For CW with Si contents of 20% and 40%, the SiO2 coverage may be sufficiently large to prevent attack by AO.