Materials Science

 

Materials Science in the Centre for Space Research focuses on applications in space, particularly Lower Earth Orbit (LEO). LEO is broadly considered the region (between 200 and 2000 km above the earth's surface). Today, observation satellites operating within LEO  provide daily environmental monitoring, meteorological observations, and military surveillance for the earth's inhabitants [1]. The International Space Station (ISS) and Hubble space telescope are well-known satellites, and according to the review by Yifan et al. [1], at the time of their publication,  five thousand four hundred sixty-five satellites are in this area.

The LEO environment subjects equipment and voyagers to many hazardous species (protons, atomic oxygen, etc) and environmental extremes. In 2001, NASA, in cooperation with other entities and agencies, employed a Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) project to implement the search for replacements of shielding materials and component development [2]. The MISSE program has flown over nine missions with over 630 samples tested with variable duration and orientations [3].

Material science within CSR started in 2020 and combines computational and experimental work to gain a holistic understanding of the impact of LEO aspects on chosen materials. The computational work explores various scales of modelling (systems and materials) to understand the equipment or the material better. The experimental work includes thin film synthesis, characterisation, and LEO environment testing, which provide computational work validation and initial and/or boundary conditions.

Latest Publications
Experimental

  • Effects of Atomic Oxygen Irradiation on the Structural and Thermal Properties of ABPBI/MWCNT Composites, L Square, LF Fourie, E Ellis, M Msimanga 2023 IEEE 23rd International Conference on Nanotechnology (NANO), 963-966, 2023.
  • ABPBI/MWCNT for proton radiation shielding in low earth orbit, LF Fourie, L Square, C Arendse, M Msimanga, APL Materials 11 (7), 2023.

Computational

  • The Determination of Deposition Parameters for Carbon-Based Materials in an Inductively Coupled Plasma System Using COMSOL, LF Fourie, LC Square, CJ Arendse, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science 50 (12), 5060-5069, 2022.

Principal Investigator

Prof. Lynndle Square

Students

Ernst Ellis (MSc [2023], PhD); Lionel Fourie (MSc [2020], PhD [2024]); Pieter Hennig (BSc(Hons) [2022]); Pako Mafoko (BSc(Hons) [2023]); Salomon van Niekerk ( Bsc(Hons) [2021], MSc [2023]), Henriette Vorster (PhD).

 

References

  1. Lu Yifan, Shao Qi, Yue Honghao, and Yang Fei. A review of the space environment effects on spacecraft in different orbits. IEEE Access, 7:93473_93488, 2019
  2. Kim K de Groh, Bruce A Banks, Anne M Hammerstrom, Erica E Youngstrom, Carolyn Kaminski, Laura M Marx, Elizabeth S Fine, Jonathan D Gummow, and Douglas Wright. Misse peace polymers: an international space station environmental exposure experiment. In Proceedings of the AIAA Conference on International Space Station Utilisation, 2001.
  3. Kim K de Groh, Joyce A Dever, Donald A Jaworske, Sharon K Miller, Edward A Sechkar, Scott R Panko, et al. NASA Glenn Research Centre's materials international space station experiments (MISSE 1-7). In International Symposium on SM/MPAC and SEED Experiments, number E-16690, 2008.