High intensity 5 eV cw laser substained O-atom exposure facility for material degradation studies

An atomic oxygen exposure facility has been developed for studies of material degradation. The goal of these studies is to provide design criteria and information for the manufacture of long life (20 to 30 years) construction material for use in low earth orbit. The studies that are being undertaken using the facility will provide (1) absolute reaction cross sections for use in engineering design problems, (2) formulations of reaction mechanisms for use in selection of suitable existing materials and design of new more resistant ones, and (3) calibration of flight hardware (mass spectrometers, etc.) in order to directly relate experiments performed in low earth orbit to ground based investigations. The facility consists of (1) a cw laser sustained discharge source of O-atoms having a variable energy up to 5 eV and an intensity of between 1015-1017 O-atoms s-1 cm-2, (2) an atomic beam formation and diagnostics system consisting of various stages of differential pumping, mass spectrometer detector and time-of-flight analysis, (3) a spinning rotor viscometer for absolute O-atom flux measurements, and (4) provision for using the system for calibration of flight instruments. 15 refs., 10 figs