{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,6]],"date-time":"2026-07-06T15:32:36Z","timestamp":1783351956950,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"24","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,12]],"date-time":"2022-12-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1670803200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["51873146"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["51873146"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["52203085"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52203085"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["21JCZDJC00710"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["21JCZDJC00710"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["A2020202002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["A2020202002"]}]},{"name":"Multiple Investment Fund for Applied Basic Research of Tianjin","award":["51873146"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["51873146"]}]},{"name":"Multiple Investment Fund for Applied Basic Research of Tianjin","award":["52203085"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52203085"]}]},{"name":"Multiple Investment Fund for Applied Basic Research of Tianjin","award":["21JCZDJC00710"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["21JCZDJC00710"]}]},{"name":"Multiple Investment Fund for Applied Basic Research of Tianjin","award":["A2020202002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["A2020202002"]}]},{"name":"the Fund for Innovative Research Groups of Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province","award":["51873146"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["51873146"]}]},{"name":"the Fund for Innovative Research Groups of Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province","award":["52203085"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52203085"]}]},{"name":"the Fund for Innovative Research Groups of Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province","award":["21JCZDJC00710"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["21JCZDJC00710"]}]},{"name":"the Fund for Innovative Research Groups of Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province","award":["A2020202002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["A2020202002"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Polymers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Kapton film is a polymeric material widely used on low-Earth-orbit (LEO) spacecraft surfaces. In the LEO environment, atomic oxygen (AO) is spaceflight materials\u2019 most destructive environmental factor. The erosion mechanism of AO on Kapton films has long been an important issue, where the parameter dependence of the AO effect has received increasing attention. Studies of AO energy and cumulative flux have been extensively carried out, while the influence mechanism of the incidence angle and flux density is not fully understood. The AO incidence angle and flux density in space are diverse, which may cause different damage effects on aerospace materials. In this paper, the dependence of the incidence angle and flux density in the damaging effect of AO on Kapton films was investigated using ground-based AO test technology and the reactive molecular dynamics (ReaxFF MD) simulation technique. Firstly, the ground-based experiment obtained the mass loss data of Kapton films under the action of AO with a variable incidence angle and flux density. Then, the mass loss, temperature rise, product, and erosion yield of Kapton during AO impact with different incidence angles and dose rates were calculated using the ReaxFF MD method. The influences of the incidence angle and flux density on the damage mechanism of the AO effect were discussed by comparing the simulation and test results. The results show that the AO effect in the lower incidence angle range (0\u201360\u00b0) is independent of the incidence angle and depends only on the amount of impacted atomic oxygen. AO in the higher incidence angle range (60\u201390\u00b0) has a surface stripping effect, which causes more significant mass loss and a temperature rise while stripping raised macromolecules from rough surfaces, and the erosion effect increases with the increasing incidence angle and amount of impacted atomic oxygen. There is a critical value for the influence of flux density on the AO effect. Above this critical value, AO has a reduced erosive capacity due to a lower chance of participating in the reaction. The amount of each main product from the AO effect varies with the incidence angle and flux density. Nonetheless, the total content of the main products is essentially constant, around 70%. This work will contribute to our understanding of the incidence angle and flux density dependence of the AO effect and provide valuable information for the development of standards for ground simulation tests.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/polym14245444","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,13]],"date-time":"2022-12-13T02:59:01Z","timestamp":1670900341000},"page":"5444","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Dependence of Incidence Angle and Flux Density in the Damage Effect of Atomic Oxygen on Kapton Film"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Wang","family":"Zhao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Hebei Province on Scale-Span Intelligent Equipment Technology, School of Mechanical Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4620-5269","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Qiang","family":"Wei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Hebei Province on Scale-Span Intelligent Equipment Technology, School of Mechanical Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Reliability and Intelligence Electrical Equipment, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chuanjin","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Hebei Province on Scale-Span Intelligent Equipment Technology, School of Mechanical Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yaoshun","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Hebei Province on Scale-Span Intelligent Equipment Technology, School of Mechanical Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ning","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Hebei Province on Scale-Span Intelligent Equipment Technology, School of Mechanical Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Reliability and Intelligence Electrical Equipment, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Nishikawa, T., Sonoda, K., and Nakanishi, K. (1988, January 26). Effect of atomic oxygen on polymers used as surface materials for spacecrafts, electrical insulating materials. Proceedings of the Twenty-First Symposium on Electrical Insulating Materials, Nerima, Japan."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"93473","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2019.2927811","article-title":"A review of the space environment effects on spacecraft in different orbits","volume":"7","author":"Lu","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"860","DOI":"10.2514\/3.26524","article-title":"Effects of 69 months in low earth orbit on Kapton antenna structures","volume":"31","author":"Whiteside","year":"1994","journal-title":"J. Spacecr. Rocket."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"21","DOI":"10.1016\/j.polymdegradstab.2009.10.017","article-title":"Investigation of degradation mechanisms in mechanical properties of polyimide films exposed to a low earth orbit environment","volume":"95","author":"Shimamura","year":"2010","journal-title":"Polym. Degrad. Stab."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"475","DOI":"10.2514\/3.26640","article-title":"Oxygen interactions with materials III-Mission and induced environments","volume":"32","author":"Koontz","year":"1995","journal-title":"J. Spacecr. Rocket."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1301","DOI":"10.1016\/j.polymdegradstab.2011.04.001","article-title":"Surface molecular degradation of selected high performance polymer composites under low earth orbit environmental conditions","volume":"96","author":"Awaja","year":"2011","journal-title":"Polym. Degrad. Stabil."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"317","DOI":"10.1007\/1-4020-4319-8_28","article-title":"Erosion of Kapton H by hyperthermal atomic oxygen: Dependence on O-Atom fluence and surface temperature","volume":"6","author":"Buczala","year":"2006","journal-title":"Space Technol. Proc."},{"key":"ref_8","first-page":"535","article-title":"Investigation of surface reaction and degradation mechanism of Kapton during atomic oxygen exposure","volume":"19","author":"Duo","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. Mater. Sci. Technol"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"75","DOI":"10.2514\/2.3435","article-title":"In situ erosion study of kapton-laquo; Using novel hyperthermal oxygen atom source","volume":"36","author":"Grossman","year":"1999","journal-title":"J. Spacecr. Rocket."},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"Tagawa, M., Umeno, M., and Ohmae, N. (2010, January 8\u201310). Influence of 5 eV Atomic Oxygen on surface properties of Ag films and graphite. Proceedings of the 28th Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Reno, NV, USA."},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"Banks, B.A., Rutledge, S.K., Paulsen, P.E., and Steuber, T.J. (1989, January 6\u20138). Simulation of the low earth orbital atomic oxygen interaction with materials by means of an oxygen ion beam. Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Applied Vacuum Science and Technology, Clearwater Beach, FL, USA."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jiang, D.H., Wang, D., Liu, G., and Wei, Q. (2019). Atomic Oxygen Adaptability of Flexible Kapton\/Al2O3 Composite Thin Films Prepared. by Ion Exchange Method. Coatings, 9.","DOI":"10.3390\/coatings9100624"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1866","DOI":"10.1021\/am100201k","article-title":"Energy dependence of hyperthermal oxygen atom erosion of a fluorocarbon polymer: Relevance to space environmental effects","volume":"2","author":"Tagawa","year":"2010","journal-title":"ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"26793","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.jpcc.5b09620","article-title":"Bombarding graphene with oxygen ions: Combining effects of incident angle and ion energy to control defect generation","volume":"119","author":"Bai","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Phys. Chem. C"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1495","DOI":"10.1016\/j.asr.2020.05.021","article-title":"The effect of atomic oxygen flux and impact energy on the damage of spacecraft metals","volume":"66","author":"Morrissey","year":"2020","journal-title":"Adv. Space Res."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"150578","DOI":"10.1016\/j.apsusc.2021.150578","article-title":"Thermal ablation mechanism of polyimide reinforced with POSS under atomic oxygen bombardment","volume":"567","author":"Kim","year":"2021","journal-title":"Appl. Surf. Sci."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Visentine, J., Leger, L., Kuminecz, J., and Spiker, I. (1985, January 14). STS-8 atomic oxygen effects experiment. Proceedings of the 23rd Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Reno, NV, USA.","DOI":"10.2514\/6.1985-415"},{"key":"ref_18","unstructured":"Banks, B.A., Dever, J.A., Gebauer, L., and Hill, C.M. (1991, January 2\u20138). Atomic oxygen interactions with FEP Teflon and silicones on LDEF. Proceedings of the First LDEF Post-Retrieval Symposium, Kissimmee, FL, USA."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"203","DOI":"10.1016\/j.actaastro.2006.12.043","article-title":"Atomic oxygen-induced polymer degradation phenomena in simulated LEO space environments: How do polymers react in a complicated space environment?","volume":"62","author":"Tagawa","year":"2008","journal-title":"Acta Astronaut."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9396","DOI":"10.1021\/jp004368u","article-title":"ReaxFF: A reactive force field for hydrocarbons","volume":"105","author":"Dasgupta","year":"2001","journal-title":"J. Phys. Chem. A"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2780","DOI":"10.1021\/jp4121029","article-title":"Reactive molecular dynamics simulation on the disintegration of Kapton, POSS polyimide, amorphous silica, and teflon during atomic oxygen impact using the ReaxFF reactive force-field method","volume":"118","author":"Rahnamoun","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Phys. Chem. A"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12802","DOI":"10.1021\/acsami.7b02032","article-title":"Reactive molecular simulation of the damage mitigation efficacy of POSS-, graphene-, and carbon nanotube-loaded polyimide coatings exposed to atomic oxygen bombardment","volume":"9","author":"Rahmani","year":"2017","journal-title":"ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"233","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eurpolymj.2017.05.004","article-title":"Substantially enhanced durability of polyhedral oligomeric silsequioxane-polyimide nanocomposites against atomic oxygen erosion","volume":"92","author":"Li","year":"2017","journal-title":"Eur. Polym. J."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tong, P.Y., Wei, Q., Hu, N., and Chen, X.G. (2022). Asynchronous Synergistic Damage Effect of Atomic Oxygen and Space Micro Debris on Kapton Film. Coatings, 12.","DOI":"10.3390\/coatings12020179"},{"key":"ref_25","unstructured":"Cuthbertson, J.W., Langer, W.D., Motley, R.W., and Vaughn, J.A. (1991, January 1). Atomic oxygen beam source for erosion simulation. Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Workshop on Space Operations Applications and Research (SOAR 90), Washington, DC, USA."},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Shen, Z.G., Zhao, X.H., and Wang, X. (2006). Atomic Oxygen Effects and the Ground-Based Simulation Experiments, National Defense Industry Press. [1st ed.]."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1040","DOI":"10.1021\/jp709896w","article-title":"ReaxFF reactive force field for molecular dynamics simulations of hydrocarbon oxidation","volume":"112","author":"Chenoweth","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. Phys. Chem. A"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3803","DOI":"10.1021\/jp0276303","article-title":"ReaxFFSiO reactive force field for silicon and silicon oxide systems","volume":"107","author":"Strachan","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. Phys. Chem. A"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"187","DOI":"10.1007\/BFb0036804","article-title":"The EEM approach to chemical hardness in molecules and solids: Fundamentals and applications","volume":"80","author":"Baekelandt","year":"1993","journal-title":"Chem. Hardness"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8359","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.jpca.5b03783","article-title":"Reactive molecular dynamics simulations on the disintegration of PVDF, FP-POSS, and their composite during atomic oxygen impact","volume":"119","author":"Zeng","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Phys. Chem. A"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4069","DOI":"10.1063\/1.449071","article-title":"The nose\u2013hoover thermostat","volume":"83","author":"Evans","year":"1985","journal-title":"J. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4997","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevB.39.4997","article-title":"Conjugate gradient minimization of the energy functional: A new method for electronic structure calculation","volume":"39","author":"Car","year":"1989","journal-title":"Phys. Rev. B"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1006\/jcph.1995.1039","article-title":"Fast parallel algorithms for short-range molecular dynamics","volume":"117","author":"Plimpton","year":"1995","journal-title":"J. Comput. Phys."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"245","DOI":"10.1016\/j.parco.2011.08.005","article-title":"Parallel reactive molecular dynamics: Numerical methods and algorithmic techniques","volume":"38","author":"Aktulga","year":"2012","journal-title":"Parallel Comput."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"015012","DOI":"10.1088\/0965-0393\/18\/1\/015012","article-title":"Visualization and analysis of atomistic simulation data with OVITO\u2013the Open Visualization Tool","volume":"18","author":"Stukowski","year":"2010","journal-title":"Model. Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng."},{"key":"ref_36","first-page":"337","article-title":"Mass change and erosion mechanism of the polyimide film during atomic oxygen exposure","volume":"19","author":"Duo","year":"2005","journal-title":"Chin. J. Mater. Res."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"388","DOI":"10.1177\/0954008308089705","article-title":"MISSE 2 PEACE polymers atomic oxygen erosion experiment on the international space station","volume":"20","author":"Banks","year":"2008","journal-title":"High Perform. Polym."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1231","DOI":"10.2514\/1.A34414","article-title":"Erosion of spacecraft metals due to atomic oxygen: A molecular dynamics simulation","volume":"56","author":"Morrissey","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Spacecr. Rocket."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"72","DOI":"10.1016\/j.polymdegradstab.2015.02.004","article-title":"A ReaxFF-based molecular dynamics study of the pyrolysis mechanism of polyimide","volume":"114","author":"Lu","year":"2015","journal-title":"Polym. Degrad. Stabil."},{"key":"ref_40","unstructured":"Buczala, D.M. (2004). Temperature dependence study of FEP Teflon and Kapton H erosion in a simulated LEO atomic-oxygen environment. [Master\u2019s Thesis, Montana State University]."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rapaport, D.C. (2004). The Art of Molecular Dynamics Simulation, Cambridge University Press. [2nd ed.].","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511816581"}],"container-title":["Polymers"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2073-4360\/14\/24\/5444\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T01:40:03Z","timestamp":1760146803000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2073-4360\/14\/24\/5444"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,12]]},"references-count":41,"journal-issue":{"issue":"24","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,12]]}},"alternative-id":["polym14245444"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/polym14245444","relation":{},"ISSN":["2073-4360"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2073-4360","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,12]]}}}