Materials selection for applications in space environment considering outgassing phenomenon

Abstract

Application of the existing materials selection methods is not much popular in space environment. This is in spite of involvement of the selection process in this field with a wide range of influential factors (e.g. conventional mechanical properties and over 21 space environmental effects). In this paper an introductory road map for employing systematic materials selection methods in the field by engaging the selection process with mechanical properties and only one of the space environmental factors is presented. Here, selected case studies, which are involved with outgassing phenomenon of materials in vacuum condition, highlight the incapability of some of the methods in dealing with such example problems. The study specifically indicates the effectiveness of the most recently introduced method, i.e. Z-transformation, over other existing methods. The results show that considering the mechanical properties of materials in conjunction with the space environmental effects produce much more reliable ranking of the candidate materials. Besides, the results recommend introducing more space environmental aspects in the selection process may produce a better outcome.