Curtiss Wright develops Keronite PEO black coating for straylight absorption and passive thermal management of additively manufactured aluminium space baffles.
We are at the International Symposium on Materials in the Space Environment & International Conference on Protection of Materials and Structures in a Space Environment - Sciencesconf in St. Raphael, France where Professor Suman Shrestha, VP-Applications Engineering from Keronite-Curtiss Wright, and Dr Irene Heras from CATEC presented a novel work on the development of black passive thermal control coatings for additively manufactured (AM) highly complex space baffles of the Scalmalloy alloy. The work includes design and optimisation of the intricate veins of the baffle internal of SolarMems’ Star Tracker for Nano Satellites (nanoST) and further engineered and manufactured by CATEC using the PBF-LB additive manufacturing technology followed by black surface coating development on the very intricate geometries of the baffle internal surfaces and edges using the plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) process.
The Keronite black PEO coated AM baffle has been demonstrated to have highly stable thermal control properties before and after environmental exposures and demonstrated to be superior than the current space approved black anodised coating. Solar absorptance (as) and Infrared emittance (Ɛh) values for the black PEO on AM material were more than 94% and 90% respectively and higher than the current space black anodized coatings. In addition, Total hemispherical reflectance < 4%have been achieved for the black PEO AM surfaces. The authors believe, this collaborative work could open up a number of applications not only in space but also in other industrial applications for the use of AM approach in manufacturing highly engineered and complicated components with minimal materials wastage thus meeting goals towards environmental and material sustainability targets. In addition, the use of advanced and environmentally friendly PEO technology adds further benefits towards meeting new environmental legislations such as REACH.
Results of the work can be provided upon request. This work will be published as a full conference paper early next year in the Proceedings of the ISMSE.
For further information, please contact Professor Suman Shrestha: suman.shrestha@cwst.com