Metal Pigmented Thermal Control Coatings with High Ratios of Solar Absorptance to Infrared Emittance.

The purpose of the program was to develop sprayable paint-type coatings with variable solar absorptance to infrared emittance ratios greater than unity. Exploratory development on coating materials that will yield a fixed a sub sepsilon sub N ratio over the range 0.2 epsilon 0.50 is described. A variety of leafing metal pigmented coatings was developed and prepared which gave a sub sepsilon sub N ratios greater than unity. The highest ratios up to 2.5 were obtained with copper pigmented films after they were oxidized at elevated temperatures. Such specially treated and prepared materials have shown excellent stability to electron andor ultraviolet irradiation in a simulated space environment and have demonstrated potential for use on future satellite systems. Author