面向火星探测的环氧形状记忆聚合物复合材料的性能研究

The Mars exploration mission is a major landmark project in building a powerful aerospace country and a milestone project for China's aerospace to move further into deep space. Advanced materials integrating structures with functions can do a favor. Shape memory polymers and their composites, as typical smart materials, can effectively reduce the payload while achieving autonomous deformation, and have been successfully applied to geosynchronous orbit. Therefore, we investigate the feasibility of applying these new materials to Mars explorations. Firstly, according to the requirements of the “Tianwen-1” mission, a self-deployable flag mechanism was proposed. Then from the perspectives of static tensile mechanical properties, dynamic mechanical analysis and shape memory performance, γ and UV irradiation and long-term storage (temperatures (−196 ℃, 25 ℃ and 85 ℃) for 30 days and −196 ℃ for 457 days) effects on shape memory polymer composites were investigated. Finally, according to the photos from the “Zhurong” rover, the National Flag of China was successfully released, and the flag pattern was clear and distinct. This shows that the shape memory polymer composites have been successfully applied to Mars explorations. In the future, it is expected to assist China’s Mars sample return program and other interstellar exploration missions in diverse structural architectures.