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Dissertation
Precise Determination of Charge Distributions in Electron Irradiated Polymers Via Pulsed Electroacoustic Measurements With Applications to Spacecraft Charging
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023
  • Zachary Gibson, Utah State University
Date of Award:
8-1-2023
Document Type:
Dissertation
Degree Name:
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department:
Physics
Committee Chair(s)
J. R. Dennison
Committee
J. R. Dennison
Committee
Mark Riffe
Committee
Charles Torre
Committee
Lee Pearson
Committee
Yi Rao
Subject Categories
Abstract

Understanding how charge builds up and moves around in materials that are highly insulating, such as dielectrics, is important for many applications from power transmission to spacecraft charging. The leading cause of issues in spacecraft due to interactions with the space environment is spacecraft charging. That is, the accumulation of charge on insulating materials leads to arcing and sparking aboard the spacecraft. The most critical charging occurs due to electrons in a particular energy range of 10-50 keV. Electrons with these energies can travel 1’s to 10’s of microns into relevant materials. To measure where the charge is embedded and how it moves, the pulsed electroacoustic (PEA) method can be used. The PEA method allows for non-destructive measurements of embedded charge distributions in these dielectric materials. PEA instrumentation, test methods, and analysis were extensively characterized and improved. In this work, the PEA method was tested as to its relevance to spacecraft charging applications and the applicability was extended with a novel method for measuring shallowly deposited charge distributions in highly insulating materials. The PEA method is shown to be relevant and useful for understanding how charge builds up and moves inside dielectric materials in the context of spacecraft charging.

Checksum
795efa65855bed4b8f0825c25570ab9f
Citation Information
Zachary Gibson. "Precise Determination of Charge Distributions in Electron Irradiated Polymers Via Pulsed Electroacoustic Measurements With Applications to Spacecraft Charging" (2023)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/zachary-gibson/50/