Comparison between purged and vacuum bake-out efficiency

Purged bake-outs can be an appealing alternative to vacuum bake-outs to mitigate molecular outgassing of space hardware. However, their suitability is still debated since there is a lack of knowledge regarding their efficiency. This publication presents a method to assess the efficiency of purged bake-outs, comparing them to vacuum bake-outs, and provides first results of a parametric study on a few materials, with particular emphasis in the effects that pressure, nitrogen flow, and gas inlet temperature have on the efficiency of the process. The study was done without a specific mission in mind, pre-determined temperature and duration profiles were applied. It is however stressed that the actual bake-out conditions will have to be related to the particular mission of interest.