In collaboration with the UK Technology Strategy Board, the National Physical Laboratory and Enersys’ ABSL Space Products division, Surrey Nanosystems has developed a carbon nanotube surface that absorbs 99.96% of incident radiation. They call it Vantablack.
Though that achievement may seem trivial to some it’s amazing to think how much engineering has to go into the development of ultra-black materials. In fact, Surrey researchers spent two years creating their super-black surface.
The biggest problems facing ultra-black carbon nanotube-based material manufacturers are their traditionally high melting points. When dealing with sensitive electronics, like the kind you might find in a space telescope, engineers have to be cautious about the heat applied to their surface. Anything above a certain temperature can destroy components, if not the entire system. Adding to that complication, those same materials suffer from poor adhesion, making them difficult to permanently affix to an object.
To solve this problem Surrey’s engineers developed a new process to apply Vantablack to surfaces, opting to grow their material on aluminum rather than the traditional titanium and silicon substrate. Through the use of aluminum engineers were able to propagate the growth of their new material while also making a lighter weight component, a feature that’s critical in space applications. Furthermore, the new super-black material showed itself to have the highest thermal conductivity, lowest incident radiation and more than enough adhesion to withstand the shock of rocket launches and long-term vibrations.
“Vantablack is a major breakthrough by UK industry in the application of nanotechnology to optical instrumentation,” said Ben Jensen, Chief Technology Officer at Surrey NanoSystems. “For example, it reduces stray-light, improving the ability of sensitive telescopes to see the faintest stars, and allows the use of smaller, lighter sources in space-borne black body calibration systems. Its ultra-low reflectance improves the sensitivity of terrestrial, space and air-borne instrumentation.”
Surrey Nanosystems is currently scaling up production of their new material and the first orders have already been delivered. With the proliferation of this material new telescopes and satellite imaging systems may be able to probe distant objects with greater clarity. In addition, older terrestrial telescopes might also get a new lease on life, making further contributions to our knowledge of the stars.
Source: Surrey Nanosystems