Investigation of factors impacting the in-service degradation of aerospace coatings

Weathering of Compounded Products

“…The coating has also self-healing properties which permit self repair of surface after it was damaged by space debris. 70 The use of a clearcoat was found to enhance the resistance to gloss loss regardless of the stressors applied. 65 Several analytical methods have been used to monitor coating degradation to develop predictive model.…”

Degradation of polymer films

“…86 FTIR results indicated cleavage of amide groups and the growth of carbonyl groups from chain scission. This partial depolymerisation/decomposition due to low photon fluxes e.g.…”

“…Research into the degradation of bulk polymers has a longer history and is more comprehensive, and many quality reviews have already been written in this area. 23,84,86,87,[89][90][91] This paper focuses on films and effort has been taken to concentrate on pertinent degradation mechanisms found specifically in these systems rather than discussing all possible mechanisms in a generic fashion. It will be noted that liquid interactions are not included.…”

Self-healing coatings

“…Cosmetic coatings relate more to finish, including hiding power, gloss, and color. Stressors on coatings include impact and erosion, temperature cycles, mechanical cycles, diurnal cycles, UV radiation, dirt, pollutants and chemically active aerosols, immersion environment, exhaust gases, and humidity [1,22]. These stressors lead to a loss of gloss, hardness, color and function.…”

“…Ionomers, which have reversible ionic and hydrogen bonds such as those derived from a class of thermoplastic poly(ethyleneco-methacrylic acid) (EMMA) are an important example of this class of materials. They have demonstrated the ability to self-heal after ballistic impact over a large temperature range (À50 to 140°C) [16,22,36,52,110]. Consequently, they have been proposed as coatings in fuel tanks in combat aircraft and oil tankers as well as in space applications [16,111].…”