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Look up any material and see what's known about it: its properties, what it's used for, how it performs and how it fails, with every number traced to its source. From labs and factories on Earth to orbit, the Moon and Mars.
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NASA
James Webb Space Telescope
18 materials · Partial parts list
SpaceX
Falcon 9
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NASA
Saturn V
17 materials · Partial parts list
NASA
Hubble Space Telescope
12 materials · Partial parts list
NASA / JPL
Perseverance
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NASA / Johns Hopkins APL
Parker Solar Probe
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Crew Dragon
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ILC Industries
Apollo A7L spacesuit
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Materials
Browse all → misse2/upilex-s
Polyimides • 777 µm lost in orbit • 1 source • 2005
misse2/delrin
Acetals • 771 µm lost in orbit • 1 source • 2005
misse2/pbt
Polyesters • 768 µm lost in orbit • 1 source • 2005
misse2/cr-39
Polycarbonates • >573 µm lost in orbit • 1 source • 2005
misse2/pmma
Acrylics • >472 µm lost in orbit • 1 source • 2005
misse2/ca
Cellulosics • 426 µm lost in orbit • 1 source • 2005
Articles
All 47 articles → Which stainless steel to choose: 17 grades compared on the data Material selection • 17 materials Which aluminium alloy to choose: 6061, 7075, 5052, 5083 and more Material selection • 10 materials Yield strength vs tensile strength: how big is the gap? Read the data • 21 materials Which metals conduct heat best, and which worst? Read the data • 28 materials Stainless steel for seawater: 316, 2205 or 2507? Material selection • 6 materials Which materials survive atomic oxygen in low Earth orbit? Space • 36 materials
Atomic oxygen: most and least resistant
All 40 materials →Erosion after 3.95 years outside the ISS, compared with Kapton H, the reference film. Lower is better. Source: NASA/TM-2008-215490.
| Rank | Material | Compared with Kapton H | Lost in 3.95 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | White TedlarCrystalline polyvinylfluoride with white pigment | 0.034× | 8.5 µm |
| 2 | PTFEPolytetrafluoroethylene | 0.047× | 12 µm |
| 3 | PFAPerfluoroalkoxy copolymer resin | 0.058× | 15 µm |
| 4 | AFAmorphous fluoropolymer | 0.066× | 17 µm |
| 5 | FEPFluorinated ethylene propylene | 0.067× | 17 µm |
| … | |||
| 36 | PMMAPolymethyl methacrylate | >1.87× | >472 µm |
| 37 | CR-39Allyl diglycol carbonate | >2.27× | >573 µm |
| 38 | PBTPolybutylene terephthalate | 3.04× | 768 µm |
| 39 | DelrinPolyoxymethylene (acetal) | 3.05× | 771 µm |
| 40 | Upilex-SPolyimide (BPDA) | 3.07× | 777 µm |