Scientists from the University of North Carolina investigated the effectiveness of a new protective coating for electronic components of spacecraft. It is designed to protect fragile electronics from radiation and differs from the previous solutions, the extremely low weight. The secret is that it is a mixture of glue and ordinary rust.
The aim of the researchers was to develop a coating that would be in the protective properties of a metal sheath in which are now hiding the electronic components of satellites. They are good, but bulky, and most importantly – heavy. Scientists took as a basis the polymer, which began to saturate different metallic components, trying to find the composition with optimal properties.
The result was that the quality of the solution of the problem is enough to add the polymer powder of metal oxides – in other words, the usual rust. The effectiveness of such a screen is almost equal to the parameters of the protection plate of the pure metal of the same thickness. Only a mixture of glue with rust 30% lighter and many times cheaper.
The new coating is revolutionary and provides outstanding protection settings, but it gives engineers the opportunity for compromise. It is possible to maintain the radiation protection at the same level, but to reduce the weight of the armor by 30%, or maintain weight, but to increase efficiency by 30 %. If you look wider, when such protection will need to many objects on the moon, Mars and in deep space, the future of the technology cannot be overemphasized.
Source — North Carolina State University.