Metal ion implantation and dynamic ion mixing for the protection of high-performance polymers from severe oxidative environment

Low energy high-dose Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation, combining both ion and recoil implantation (dynamic ion mixing), was used to enrich thin surface layers of high-performance polymers with an appropriate amount of specially selected reactive metal element such as Al. Both oxygen plasma and fast ( E∼2–3 eV) atomic oxygen (FAO) beam have been used as aggressive environments for testing the implanted polymers. The modified materials successfully survived these test environments, including FAO, which is the main danger for carbon-based materials in space, in low Earth orbit. The retained doses of implanted and recoil implanted elements were controlled by RBS. The content, structure and morphology of the modified protective surface layers were examined by XPS and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was shown that protective oxide(s)-based surface structures were formed. Implantation and conversion conditions were found for which the appearance and important thermo-optical properties of treated polymer films, such as solar absorptance and thermal emittance, were practically unchanged.