Preparation and Evaluation of White Silicone Thermal Control Paint Properties

The purpose of the present work is to prepare of white silicone thermal control paint for spacecraft and investigation the effects of atomic oxygen (AO) and thermal cycling on the optical properties. The white paint includes zinc oxide-pigmented silicone resin. The behavior of silicone paint under AO and thermal cycling, were studied by the mass loss of paint specimen and complementary techniques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Also the optical degradation in the reflectance spectra, solar absorptance and thermal emittance for silicone paint before and after AO and thermal cycle were investigated. Solar absorptance and thermal emittance of this paint were 0.256 and 0.870 respectively. Thewhite silicone paint has promising AO and thermal cycling resistance properties that could be suitable for space applications. J.