Conductive Polymers as an Environmentally Safe Commercial and Space Applicable Material

Overview

Objectives/Goals Do intrinsically conductive polymers offer a more cost- efficient replacement material in comparison to traditional space and commercial materials, while at the same time performing the same functions, or even a combination of a functions performed by several traditional space applied materials and corrosion preventing materials used currently. Methods/Materials The following tests, for this experiment were the following: salt spray testing to determine the anti-corrosive properties of polyaniline (which would both determine its durability on Earth prior to launch, as well as whether polyaniline can be used as a replacement for the harmful hexavalent chrome paint used in modern aircraft to protect corrosion), thermal cycling to determine polyaniline's durability in temperature extremes, and surface resistance testing to verify that this conductive polymer can prevent electrostatic discharge from potentially damaging circuitry and instrumentation within a spacecraft. Results The results were as follows: in the salt spray testing, which was performed for one week, polyaniline successfully protected steel and aluminum coupons from oxidization (a finding that was further established this chemical analyzation); in the heat cycling, which alternated for approximately ten hours the temperatures of #100°F and 257°F, the coupons covered with polyaniline were intact (though scanning electron microscope pictures showed minute amounts of the polyaniline had worn off); and surface resistivity testing produced results of a resistance of 10^6 to 10^8 ohms, which fit precisely within the guidelines of commercial satellite specifications. Conclusions/Discussion The results of corrosion testing were very promising and as of now, the results point in the right direction for a possible space use of polyaniline, in the future I hope to perform more tests to determine is acceptability as a space applied material: outgassing, more electron microscope analyzations, and solar radiation testing.

Competition history

• CSEF 2003 Applied Mechanics/ Structures & Mechanisms/ Manufacturing · Entry S0210

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

• All Engineering projects
• CSEF Engineering projects
• Every CSEF 2003 project