Radiation induced conductivity in space dielectric materials

The radiation-induced conductivity of some polymers was described mainly in literature by a competition between ionization, trapping/detrapping, and recombination processes or by radiation assisted ageing mechanisms. Our aim is to revise the effect of the aforementioned mechanisms on the complex evolution of Teflon^® FEP under space representative ionizing radiation. Through the definition of a new experimental protocol, revealing the effect of radiation dose and relaxation time, we have been able to demonstrate that the trapping/recombination model devised in this study agrees correctly with the observed experimental phenomenology at qualitative level and allows describing very well the evolution of radiation induced conductivity with irradiation time (or received radiation dose). According to this model, the complex behavior observed on Teflon^® FEP may be basically ascribed to the competition between electron/hole pairs generation and recombination: electrons are deeply trapped and act as recombination centers for free holes. Relaxation effects have been characterized through successive irradiations steps and have been again well described with the defined model at qualitative level: recombination centers created by the irradiation induce long term alteration on the electric properties, especially the effective bulk conductivity. One-month relaxation does not allow a complete recovery of the material initial charging behavior.