Measurements of Reflectance and Thermal Emissivity of a Black Surface Created by Electrostatic Flocking with Carbon-Fiber Piles

A black surface was created using electrostatic flocking with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) carbon flock fibers. Reflectance of diffused reflection for ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared rays was measured using the created flocked surfaces. The resultant surface exhibits extremely low reflectance values. Furthermore, the authors measured thermal emissivity of carbon-fiber flocked surfaces. A sample used for emissivity measurements was fabricated by pasting two pieces of flocked surface samples together, into which a heater and a thermocouple had been embedded. Using a space chamber of 1,050 mm diameter and 1,206 mm depth, emissivity measurements were carried out using calorimetry. The authors obtained 0.98 as the highest thermal emissivity of the flocked surface, demonstrating that the surface emissivity is almost equivalent to the value of a black body. Results of both measurements were discussed.