Conductivity of fiberglass after long-term exposure to vacuum

Nowadays, much attention is paid to research in the field of internal electrification of spacecraft (ES). It was shown that the ability of dielectrics to prevent the occurrences of electrostatic discharges (ESD) is determined by their conductivity, which is vary greatly during ground tests and under the influence of space factors. In this article, an attempt was made to link the conductivity of dielectrics used in space-related technology to the conditions preceding its measurement. It has been shown that a long-term exposure to vacuum leads to a significant drop in foiled fiberglass conductivity, which is similar to an increase of electrification. In addition, it was found that prolonged exposure to vacuum changes the conductive mechanism. This case is most clearly seen in the increase of the conduction activation energy from 0.34 eV for the initial dielectric to 0.97 eV after prolonged exposure to vacuum. In our opinion, this indicates a change in the type of charge carriers after the removal of an easily ionizable impurity from the dielectric. Further studies will be directed to a more detailed study of the dielectric conductivity under conditions close to the natural conditions of space technology operation.