Browsing by Author "Brunsvold, Amy Leigh"

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Molecular beam studies of hyperthermal atomic oxygen and argon interactions with polymer surfaces and gas-phase molecules
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2007) Brunsvold, Amy Leigh; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Timothy K. Minton; Robert Szilagyi (co-chair)
O atoms and N2 molecules in the outer atmosphere of the Earth collide with spacecraft surfaces and various gases that are released from space vehicles. The high relative velocity of the collisions promotes high reaction probability and large energy transfers, leading to materials degradation and chemiluminescent reactions, which may interfere with the mission of the vehicle. The work presented in this thesis uses sophisticated molecular beam and surface science techniques to study materials degradation and individual reactive and inelastic collisions in an effort to understand the complex chemistry and physics that are characteristic of space vehicle interactions with Earth's upper atmosphere. A new space-durable polymer, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane polyimide, has been identified. When exposed to atomic oxygen, this polymer forms a protective SiO2 layer on its surface. Beam-surface scattering experiments showed that collision-induced dissociation becomes an important gassurface process when the translational energy of the incident atom or molecule is greater than 8 eV.