Zn2SiO4 as an ultralow solar absorptive pigment for thermal control coating

Publication date: 15 November 2019Source: Materials Letters, Volume 255Author(s): Meihua Fang, Jinpeng LvAbstractPassive thermal control coatings (TCCS) have been widely used to tune the thermal equilibrium of spacecraft. However, the performance of such coatings undergoes serious degradation due to the intensive UV absorption and the radiation damage of the pigments. We developed a Zn2SiO4 pigment with a solar absorptance (αs) as low as 0.078, which shows a distinctly high reflectance in the whole solar-radiation spectrum, especially in the high energy UV wavebands. Furthermore, after performing proton irradiation, the αs of ZnO, ZnTiO3 pigments increase from 0.153 and 0.101 to 0.277 and 0.521, respectively, while Zn2SiO4 rises to 0.212, which exhibits remarkable radiation resistance. We evidenced that Zn2SiO4 pigments will not only significantly boost the performance of thermal control coatings but also be beneficial for UV shielding applications.Graphical abstractThe as-developed Zn2SiO4 pigments show ∼95% reflectivity in solar UV wavebands. The αs of ZnSi2O4 only degrades to 0.212 after performing proton irradiation with a 10-year GEO dose.
Source: Materials Letters - Category: Materials Science Source Type: research