Sharon K.R. Miller

Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

Bruce A. Banks

Alphaport, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio

Edward Sechkar

ASRC Aerospace Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio 

An Investigation of Stress Dependent Atomic 

Oxygen Erosion of Black Kapton 

Observed on MISSE 6

NASA/TM—2012-217686

December 2012
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Sharon K.R. Miller

Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

Bruce A. Banks

Alphaport, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio

Edward Sechkar

ASRC Aerospace Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio 

An Investigation of Stress Dependent Atomic 

Oxygen Erosion of Black Kapton 

Observed on MISSE 6

NASA/TM—2012-217686

December 2012

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

Glenn Research Center

Cleveland, Ohio 44135

Prepared for the

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the original PFTE experiment principal investigator Joyce Dever for conceiving and assembling 

this MISSE 6 flight experiment. We also gratefully acknowledge the skilled craftsmanship of Frank Lam (TFOME) at NASA GRC 

for preparing some of the sample holders used for the MISSE 6 flight experiment, and the environment dose measurements and 

predictions made by Gary Pippin (Boeing Corp., retired), Miria Finckenor (NASA MSFC) and Kim de Groh (NASA GRC). We 

would also like to thank Dan Polis, Charles Powers, and Wanda Peters of NASA GSFC for their support in developing specifications 

for the fixture for the stressed film sample holders.

Available from

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Available electronically at http://www.sti.nasa.gov

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Level of Review: This material has been technically reviewed by technical management. 

Keep
NASA/TM—2012-217686 1

An Investigation of Stress Dependent Atomic Oxygen Erosion 

of Black Kapton Observed on MISSE 6

Sharon K.R. Miller

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Glenn Research Center

Cleveland, Ohio 44135

Bruce A. Banks

Alphaport, Inc.

Cleveland, Ohio 44135

Edward Sechkar

ASRC Aerospace Corporation

Cleveland, Ohio 44135

Abstract

Black Kapton XC polyimide was flown as part of the Polymer Film Tensile Experiment (PFTE) on 

Materials International Space Station Experiment 6 (MISSE 6). The purpose of the experiment was to 

expose a variety of polymer films, typical of those used for thermal control blankets or supporting 

membranes on Earth orbiting spacecraft, to the low Earth orbital (LEO) environment under both relaxed 

and tension conditions. Black Kapton XC under tensile stress experienced a higher erosion rate during 

exposure in LEO than the same material that was flown in a relaxed condition. Testing conducted to 

determine the magnitude of the stress and erosion dependence using a ground-based thermal energy 

atomic oxygen plasma showed a slight dependence of erosion yield on stress for Kapton HN and Black 

Kapton XC, but not to the extent observed on MISSE 6. More testing is needed to isolate the factors 

present in LEO that cause stress dependent erosion.

Introduction

Thin film polymers are used in many spacecraft applications for thermal control (multi-layer 

insulation and sunshields), as lightweight structural members (solar array blankets, inflatable/deployable 

structures) and have been proposed for propulsion (solar sails). Polymers in these applications are 

exposed to the space environment and are vulnerable to degradation by solar ultraviolet radiation, solar 

flare x-rays, solar wind electrons and protons trapped in Earth’s magnetic field, temperature and orbital 

thermal cycling, and low Earth orbit (LEO) atomic oxygen (Ref. 1). In applications where the polymer 

film is under tension while exposed to these environmental factors, it is important to understand the effect 

of stress in combination with the environment on the durability of thin polymer films. Polymer films were 

flown previously in the Polymer Film Thermal Control Experiment and the Gossamer Materials 

Experiment as part of Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) 1 as well as on MISSE 

3, MISSE 4, and MISSE 5 (Refs. 2 and 3). The MISSE 6 exposure is different from prior such 

experiments in that a number of the samples were designed to be exposed while under tension to better 

simulate their use in space and determine if the stress level affects the durability. The dog-bone shaped 

tensile samples of polymers were flown on both the ram and wake facing sides of the MISSE 6 Passive 

Experiment Containers (PECs). A description of all of the samples flown as part of PFTE is contained in 

Reference 4. This paper focuses on the results observed for Black Kapton XC flown on MISSE 6 and the 

results of ground testing conducted in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the erosion observed 

in LEO.
NASA/TM—2012-217686 2

Flight and Ground Based Experiment Description and Procedure

MISSE 6 Environment and Ground Based Atomic Oxygen Exposure

MISSE 6 was composed of two Passive Experiment Containers (PECS), 6A and 6B. Both PECS had 

one side of the suitcase style containers facing ram and the other side facing wake. They were both 

installed on the European Columbus module of the International Space Station (ISS) on March 22, 2008,

during the flight of STS-123. They were retrieved on September 1, 2009, by the crew of STS-128 after 

slightly over 17 months in LEO. Environment exposure condition estimates that have been determined to 

date are the atomic oxygen exposure level on each side and the UV radiation level (Refs. 5 to 7). There 

were also two Kapton HN/VDA tensile dogbones that were flown as part of this experiment on the wake 

side of MISSE 6A from which scanning electron microscope images of protected locations on the surface 

were used to determine the erosion depth and ultimately the atomic oxygen fluence (Ref. 4). All of the 

data seemed in good agreement with an estimate of the atomic oxygen arrival fluence for the ram side of 

6A and 6B of approximately 2×1021 atoms/cm2

, and for the wake side approximately 1.2 to 1.4×1020

atoms/cm2

. This indicates that the wake side of MISSE 6, which was to have received very low atomic 

oxygen exposure was oriented in the ram direction long enough to have received an atomic oxygen dose 

about 6.5 percent that of the ram oriented side. Estimates of the UV radiation exposure in equivalent sun 

hours (ESH) were 2600 ESH for the ram sides of 6A and 6B and 1950 ESH for the wake sides of 6A and 

6B (Ref. 7). Temperature, thermal cycling, and ionizing radiation estimates were not available at this 

time.

Exposure to atomic oxygen for the ground based tests was conducted in an AXIC LF-5 plasma 

system pumped with a Varian SH110 Scroll Pump. Air was used as the feed gas and a radio frequency 

power of about 36 W was applied to the internal electrodes to form the thermal energy (~0.04 eV) atomic 

oxygen plasma that was used to expose samples placed inside the chamber. The effective atomic oxygen 

fluence for these tests was about a factor of 6 higher than for the flight samples.

Experiment Design for Application of Tensile Stress

The flight experiment was designed to allow some of the polymer dog-bone type samples to be 

exposed under a tensile load typical of expected conditions for the James Webb Space Telescope 

sunshield. The tensile load of approximately ~2.22 N (0.5 lb) was applied by mounting the sample in a 

holder similar to that shown on the left side of the photo in Figure 1 and then compressing a spring with a 

spring constant of ~385 N/m (2.2 lb/in.) by approximately ~0.0058 m (0.227 in.) to put the sample under 

an approximately constant tensile load. The drawing in Figure 1 shows a double sample holder where the 

sample on the left did not have an applied tensile stress and the one on the right did. For the samples 

exposed under stress, the resulting stress was dependent on the polymer film thickness per Equation (1)

with an average gage width of approximately 0.0032 m (0.126 in.). For the Black Kapton XC samples, 

the applied stress was ~2.76×107 N/m2 (~4000 psi) as the films were 2.54×10–5 m (0.001 in.) in thickness.

Stress = (Force/Area) = (Force)/(Gage width) * (Thickness) (1)

For the ground based testing, the same sample holders were used but slightly modified to allow other 

spring compression lengths to achieve a wider variety of tensile stress on the samples. This was 

accomplished by modifying the rod underneath to allow greater travel of the spring and through the use of 

copper u-shaped shims to compress the spring and place the sample under a fixed tensile load. 
NASA/TM—2012-217686 3

Figure 1.—Photo of stressed (left) and unstressed (right) sample 

holders from above, and a side view drawing of a holder showing the 

unstressed sample position on the left and the stressed on the right. 

(Dimensions are in inches.) The stressed sample is fixed on the left 

side and allowed to move to the right by having the mount hole on 

the right slotted. Tension is supplied by compression of the spring.

Sample Description

All of the samples, both for flight and for ground testing were punched from polymer sheets using a 

die manufactured according to specimen “Type V” under the American Society for Testing and Materials 

(ASTM) Standard D-638 (Ref. 8). The dog-bone shaped die had a gage length of 7.62 mm (0.3 in.) and an 

average gage width of 3.21 ± 0.02 mm (0.126 in.). The Black Kapton XC (100XC10E7), a carbon 

pigmented polyimide, was manufactured by DuPont. It had a vapor deposited aluminum coating on the 

back that was originally intended to provide electrical contact for an active sample break indication but 

due to some wiring issues prior to fight, the flight samples were not wired for active monitoring. The 

unflown extra control samples were used for the ground experiment testing. There were also Kapton HN 

samples flown on MISSE 6 but the ones on the ram side had a SiOx protective coating on the space 

exposed side to prevent erosion by atomic oxygen, and the ones on the wake side were not under stress. 

For ground tests, Kapton HN manufactured by DuPont of 5.08×10–5 m (0.002 in.) in thickness was used 

to obtain atomic oxygen flux maps and for stress erosion comparison for the ground based experiments

due to the limited supply of Black Kapton XC samples. The Kapton HN samples were punched from the 

same die, but a thin layer of magnetron sputter deposited gold was applied to the back of the sample to 

prevent atomic oxygen erosion of the back side. Thin pieces of aluminum foil were cut to fit and wrapped 

over the grip and transition area on the front side of the Kapton HN and Black Kapton XC samples, so 

that only the gauge length would be exposed to atomic oxygen for more accurate measurement of the 

erosion at a fixed stress level, before they were secured in the holder. 

Analysis

The mass of the samples before and after exposure was measured using a Sartorius ME5 

microbalance. Samples were dehydrated at a vacuum of approximately 8.67 Pa (65 mTorr) for 48 hr prior 

to weighing to minimize errors due to absorption of moisture from the air. The change in mass of the 

Kapton HN was used to determine the atomic oxygen fluence at the surface according to ASTM E-2089 

(Ref. 9). Change in mass was also used to determine the erosion during flight or in ground tests. Overall 
NASA/TM—2012-217686 4

and close up photos were taken of the samples post flight, and before and after ground testing, using a 

Sony Cybershot DSC T-9 camera. Initial observations were recorded and a few selected samples were 

gold coated and mounted for scanning electron microscopy with a JEOL JSM-6390 LV scanning electron 

microscope (10 keV) with energy dispersive analysis by X-rays (EDAX).

Results and Discussion

Kapton XC Samples on MISSE 6

Two unstressed samples of black Kapton (XC) were exposed on the ram side of MISSE 6. Both 

samples appeared to show evidence of texturing of the surface with a darker appearance near each end of 

the dog-bone sample. One of these samples designated AO-S-1 was inadvertently put under stress when 

one end of the sample holder was moved, which changed the overall sample length by ~0.0017 m 

(~0.068 in.). This sample was installed in a sample holder initially designed for putting the sample under 

a tensile load so the holder on the top side of the sample had a slotted mount hole. It appears that the 

sample was inadvertently bumped and the one end of the holder moved putting the sample under a high 

tensile stress even though it was not initially intended to be stressed. There was a cable that was passed up 

between this sample tray (G3) and the neighboring tray very close to AO-S-1 which may have provided 

the opportunity for inadvertent bumping of the one end of the sample holder during experiment 

installation. The movement put a strain on the sample (for an undetermined length of time) of ~0.07. This 

represents approximately 26 percent of the maximum strain for Kapton XC. The resulting stress on the 

sample was 2.32×108 N/m2 (33,600 psi) which is greater than the yield strength of Kapton XC. The 

sample had a silvered appearance on the end that was stretched and distorted which is evident from the 

photograph in Figure 2.

Figure 2.—Kapton XC flown on ram side of 

MISSE 6 (AO-S-1) showing stretching of the 

sample at the silver area at the top of the 

sample in the photograph
NASA/TM—2012-217686 5

The appearance of the sample raises two questions. The first is why the stretched end appears silver 

and the second is why the black Kapton appears to be darker in the region of higher stress? In order to try 

to answer these questions, SEM and EDAX analysis was performed on the sample at selected locations 

shown in Figure 3, SEM images in Figure 3 show a significant change in surface morphology from the 

center to the edge. The center portion has a smooth lumpy appearance typical of black Kapton which 

progresses to an area which looks as if it had a thin film gossamer coating on it with many cracks 

perpendicular to the pull direction. There are fine cone-like peaks in areas where there is cracking which 

progresses to almost all peaks with thin wisps of film on the surface nearer to the silver area. At the edge 

where the sample separated, there are only a few short peaks remaining. EDAX scans indicate mostly 

carbon and oxygen signals in the central region progressing to a high concentration of aluminum near the 

stretched end. This sample was originally intended to be put under stress and wired so there was a vapor 

deposited aluminum coating on the back side. It appears that as the stress on the sample is increased, the 

erosion rate of the black Kapton increases which results in first development of surface texture cones and 

a thin film of ash from oxidation of the black Kapton. This progresses to loss of ash and erosion of the 

mostly carbon cones to the point at which the vapor deposited aluminum is predominantly what is left 

looking like a blanket of snow at the base of the remaining carbon peaks. If erosion of the Kapton XC is 

dependent on the level of stress, then there should be an observable difference between the stressed and 

unstressed samples of Kapton XC that were flown on the wake side of MISSE 6.

The stressed and unstressed samples of Kapton XC flown on the wake side did appear very different 

from each other. The two unstressed samples appeared slightly textured while the two stressed samples 

were very dark matte black in appearance. A photo of the two sample pairs is shown in Figure 1. The 

stress level during exposure was ~2.76×107 N/m2 (~4000 psi) and the strain was ~0.008 which represents 

about 3 percent of the maximum strain. The stress on the sample was about 24 percent of the tensile

strength. This does not appear to be a significant amount of strain on the material but is enough to cause a 

difference in the appearance of the erosion of the material due to oxidation by atomic oxygen. Figure 4

shows side-by-side SEM images at 45° tilt of the stressed (UV-S-2) sample of Kapton XC on the left and 

the unstressed (UV-U-2) sample of Kapton XC on the right. There is more surface texturing occurring on 

the stressed sample than the unstressed sample as can be seen in the top 2/3rds of the image. The bottom 

1/3 was under the sample mount and protected from erosion by atomic oxygen. The unstressed sample is 

only slightly different in appearance to the unexposed surface, while the surface of the stressed sample 

has undergone very noticeable erosion.

Figure 3.—SEM images of selected positions on sample AO-S-1 exposed on the ram side of MISSE 6.
NASA/TM—2012-217686 6

Figure 4.—Scanning electron microscope images of stressed (left) and 

unstressed (right) Kapton XC at 45° tilt. Top approximately 2/3 was 

exposed to the space environment on the wake side of MISSE 6 while 

the bottom ~1/3 was protected by the clamp holding the sample in place.

To better quantify the erosion, both the stressed and unstressed flight samples (UV-S-1 and UV-U-1) 

were dehydrated and weighed. The samples had not been weighed prior to flight, so a pre-flight mass 

estimate was made by taking four measurements on each of six control specimens and using the average 

mass as the pre-flight mass for both samples. The resulting erosion yield for each sample (cm3

/atom) was 

7.01×10–25 ± 9.94×10–25 for the unstressed sample and 2.93×10–24 ± 1.84×10–24 for the stressed sample. 

The error is large due to the very low change in mass and the error in the pre-flight mass estimate. In spite 

of this, the erosion yield for the stressed sample was still greater than the error. A rough estimate from 

this data is that the erosion yield for Black Kapton XC at a tensile stress of ~2.76×107 N/m2 (~4000 psi) is 

about a factor of 4 higher than for the same material not under stress. In order to obtain a better 

measurement and determine if there is a stress level dependence on erosion of Kapton and Black Kapton,

ground tests were conducted with the samples at different stress levels.

Ground Testing Using Thermal Energy Atomic Oxygen

Dehydrated and weighed unstressed Kapton HN tensile samples were mounted in each of eight

sample positions of the four modified flight sample holders sitting on an aluminum plate. The plate was 

placed in the vacuum chamber and the samples exposed to the RF atomic oxygen plasma. The mass 

change of each sample was used to determine the atomic oxygen flux at each position and the data from 

the flux map was used to correct the erosion data from the exposure tests with Kapton HN and Black 

Kapton XC under stress to account for spatial variation in the atomic oxygen arrival.

Kapton HN samples were installed in the same sample holders and four of the samples were loaded to 

varying stress levels with two unstressed samples included for fluence witnesses. The atomic oxygen 

arrival ratio for the two unstressed samples was within error of that observed for the flux map so the 

fluence at the locations of the stressed samples was estimated using the flux map and fluence measured at 

the control locations. Figure 5 contains a graph of the resulting erosion yield (cm3 removed per incoming 

atom) as a function of tensile stress for Kapton HN. As can be seen from the graph, at stress levels above 

2×107 Pa, the erosion yield exhibited a slight increase with increasing stress.

The erosion yield for two stress levels of Kapton HN normalized with respect to the unstressed 

erosion yield for that material was compared with that obtained for two Black Kapton XC samples 

exposed in the ground based atomic oxygen plasma chamber in the same positions and with the same 

spring compression level as that of the Kapton HN. The resulting stressed to unstressed erosion ratios 

shown in Figure 6 were within error of each other but much lower than the erosion ratio for the stressed to 

unstressed Black Kapton XC exposed on MISSE 6. The error in the flight data is not shown but is 

expected to be large in comparison to that for the ground based atomic oxygen exposure data. However, 

there was very little difference in the surface appearance of the ground test data compared with that 

observed on MISSE 6.
NASA/TM—2012-217686 7

Figure 5.—Atomic oxygen erosion ratio as a function of stress for Kapton HN

exposed to ground based thermal energy atomic oxygen.

Tensile Stress (N/m2)

0 2e+7 4e+7 6e+7 8e+7

Ratio of Stressed to Unstressed Erosion Corrected for Position 0

1

2

3

4

5

Kapton HN in RF Atomic Oxygen Plasma 

Black Kapton XC in RF Atomic Oxygen Plasma 

MISSE 6 Exposed Black Kapton XC

Figure 6.—Ratio of stressed to unstressed erosion yields for Kapton 

HN, and Black Kapton XC exposed to a ground based thermal energy 

atomic oxygen plasma as a function of tensile stress compared to that 

for Black Kapton XC exposed on MISSE 6.

Tensile Stress (N/m2)

0 1e+7 2e+7 3e+7 4e+7 5e+7

Atomic Oxygen Erosion Yield (cm3/atom) (Corrected for Position)

2.4e-24

2.6e-24

2.8e-24

3.0e-24

3.2e-24

3.4e-24

3.6e-24

3.8e-24
NASA/TM—2012-217686 8

Conclusions

Black Kapton XC exposed on MISSE 6 exhibited statistically a significantly higher erosion rate when 

placed under tensile stress as observed for the highly stressed sample on the ram side and two stress 

loaded samples on the wake side. Although a slight stress dependence was also observed in the ground 

based thermal energy atomic oxygen chamber for Kapton HN, and Black Kapton HN, the magnitude of 

the difference between the stressed and unstressed samples both in appearance and in the erosion yield 

was not the same as that observed in LEO. There are, however, differences between the ground based and 

LEO exposure environments which could cause this difference. There is an energy difference for the 

atomic oxygen (4.5 eV in LEO compared to 0.04 eV in the ground chamber) and different levels of UV 

radiation, temperature, and charged particles. The ground system also lacks energetic protons, electrons, 

and x-rays which are present in LEO. It is possible that two or more environment factors must be present 

to greatly affect the erosion rate of a stressed polymer such as Kapton HN and Black Kapton XC. Further 

testing is needed to isolate the factors which result in increased erosion under stress.

References

1. Dever, J.A., Banks, B.A., de Groh, K.K., and Miller, S.K. Degradation of Spacecraft Materials in 

Handbook of Environmental Degradation of Spacecraft Materials, Kutz, M. Editor, William Andrew 

Publishing, Norwich, New York, (2005).

2. Dever, J.A., Miller, S.K., Sechkar, E.A., and Wittberg, T.N. Space Environment Exposure of Polymer 

Films on the Materials International Space Station Experiment, Results from MISSE 1 and MISSE 2, 

Journal of High Performance Polymers, J.W. Connell, editor, volume 20, no 4/5, August/October, 

(2008).

3. Miller, S.K. and Dever, J.A. Space Environment Exposure Results from the MISSE 5 Polymer Film 

Thermal Control Experiment on the International Space Station, Proceedings of the 11th International 

Symposium on Materials in the Space Environment ISMSE-11, Aix-en-Provence, France, September, 

(2009).

4. Miller, S.K.R, et al., MISSE 6 Polymer Film Tensile Experiment. Proceedings of the 2010 National 

Space & Missile Materials Symposium (NSMMS), Scottsdale, AZ, June 28-July 1, (2010). 

5. Personal electronic mail communication with Miria Finckenor, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, 

(3/30/2010).

6. de Groh, K.K., Banks, B.A., Guo, A., Ashmead, C.C., Mitchell, G.G. and Yi, G.T. , “MISSE 6 

Polymers Atomic Oxygen Erosion Data,” Presented at the 2010 National Space & Missile Materials 

Symposium (NSMMS), Scottsdale, AZ, June 28 – July 1, (2010).

7. ESH estimates provided by the Boeing ISS Thermal Analysis group, contact: Gary Pippin, retired, 

Boeing, May (2010).

8. American Society for Testing and Materials (1995), Standard Test Method for Tensile Properties of 

Plastics, ASTM D 638-95, American Society for Testing and Materials, West Coshohocken.

9. American Society for Testing and Materials (2000), Standard Practices for Ground Laboratory 

Atomic Oxygen Interaction Evaluation of Materials for Space Applications, ASTM E 2089-00, 

American Society for Testing and Materials, West Coshohocken.

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An Investigation of Stress Dependent Atomic Oxygen Erosion of Black Kapton Observed on 

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13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

14. ABSTRACT

Black Kapton XC polyimide was flown as part of the Polymer Film Tensile Experiment (PFTE) on Materials International Space Station 

Experiment 6 (MISSE 6). The purpose of the experiment was to expose a variety of polymer films, typical of those used for thermal control 

blankets or supporting membranes on Earth orbiting spacecraft, to the low Earth orbital (LEO) environment under both relaxed and tension 

conditions. Black Kapton XC under tensile stress experienced a higher erosion rate during exposure in LEO than the same material that was 

flown in a relaxed condition. Testing conducted to determine the magnitude of the stress and erosion dependence using a ground-based 

thermal energy atomic oxygen plasma showed a slight dependence of erosion yield on stress for Kapton HN and Black Kapton XC, but not 

to the extent observed on MISSE 6. More testing is needed to isolate the factors present in LEO that cause stress dependent erosion.

15. SUBJECT TERMS

Oxygen atoms; Space environment; MISSE; Erosion; Polymer; Tensile stress 

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