Evaluation of reformulated thermal control coatings in a simulated space environment. Part 1: YB-71

The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center and Wright Laboratory Materials Directorate (WL/ML) have sponsored and effort to effort to reformulate and qualify Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute (IITRI) spacecraft thermal control coatings. S13G/LO-1, Z93, and YB-71 coatings were reformulated because the potassium silicate binder, Sylvania PS-7, used in the coatings is no longer manufactured. Coatings utilizing the binder's replacement candidate, Kasil 2130, manufactured by The Philadelphia Quartz (PQ) Corporation, Baltimore, Maryland, and undergoing testing at the Materials Directorate's Space Combined Effects Primary Test and Research Equipment (SCEPTRE) Facility operated by the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI). The simulated space environment consists of combined ultraviolet (UV) and electron exposure with in site specimen reflectance measurements. A brief description of the effort at IITRI, results and discussion from testing the reformulated YB-71 coating in SCEPTRE, and plans for further testing of reformulated Z93 and S13G/LO-1 are presented.