Investigation of properties of insulating materials used on spacecraft power systems

Kapton, an insulating material used in space power systems was investigated for its dielectric properties. The authors report the preliminary results of the measurement of surface and volume resistivities, dielectric constant, and dissipation factor of Kapton H- and V-type thin films of various thicknesses at different temperatures and in vacuum. It is shown that the effect of the variation of temperature and voltage on the surface resistivities, dissipation factor, and electrode capacitance seems to be greater for the thinner samples than the thicker samples. Their effect on the volume resistivity is relatively greater for the thicker samples than the thinner ones