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Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica ›› 2026, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (1): 431803.doi: 10.7527/S1000-6893.2024.31803

• Material Engineering and Mechanical Manufacturing • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of nanotube diameter on adhesion of simulated lunar dust on titanium alloy surface

Jun HE1,2, Shigang XIN1,2(), Haiyang JIAO1, Qing HUANG1   

  1. 1.Shanghai Institute of Ceramics,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Shanghai 200050,China
    2.Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049,China
  • Received:2025-01-13 Revised:2025-02-10 Accepted:2025-03-14 Online:2025-04-11 Published:2025-04-10
  • Contact: Shigang XIN E-mail:sgxin@mail.sic.ac.cn

Abstract:

The adhesion of lunar dust on the surface of spacecraft seriously threatens the stable operation of spacecraft. Passive dust mitigation technology reduces van der Waals forces through surface nanostructures, and has great application potential without additional energy. Titanium dioxide nanotube arrays were prepared on the surface of titanium alloy by anodic oxidation. The microstructure of the surface was characterized. The adhesion force between the surface and a single simulated lunar dust and the amount of simulated lunar dust adhesion when exposed to simulated lunar dust were measured.Results show that compared with the untreated titanium alloy surface, the adhesion force between a single simulated lunar dust particle and the surface is reduced by 87%, and the adhesion of simulated lunar dust is reduced by 70%. The diameter of the nanotubes (50-110 nm) can be precisely controlled by adjusting the voltage. In this range, the smaller diameter nanotubes exhibit better dust mitigation performance due to the minimization of the contact area, which is consistent with the theoretical model prediction based on van der Waals forces. The decrease of surface inclination angle or the increase of lunar dust exposure will lead to a significant increase in adhesion, indicating that both surface structure and operational conditions must be jointly optimized for practical applications.

Key words: titanium alloys, lunar dust, nanotube arrays, adhesion force, dust mitigation, van der Waals forces

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