Beta cloth is a type of fireproof silica fiber cloth used in the manufacture of Apollo/Skylab A7L space suits, the Apollo Thermal Micrometeoroid Garment, the McDivitt Purse, and in other specialized applications.
Beta cloth consists of fine woven silica fiber, similar to fiberglass. The resulting fabric will not burn, and will melt only at temperatures exceeding 650 °C (1,200 °F). To reduce its tendency to crease or tear when manipulated, and to increase durability, the fibers are coated with Teflon.
A tight weave of Beta cloth makes it more durable against atomic oxygen exposure. Its ability to resist atomic oxygen exposure makes it commonly used as the outer-most layer in mult-layer insulation for space, and it was used significantly on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station.
It was implemented in NASA space suits after the deadly 1967 Apollo 1 launch pad fire, in which the astronauts' nylon suits burned through. After the fire, NASA demanded any potentially flammable materials were to be removed from both the spacecraft and space suits. Beta cloth was developed by a Manned Spacecraft Center team led by Frederick S. Dawn and including Matthew I. Radnofsky working with the Owens-Corning and DuPont companies.
Where additional wear resistance was needed, external patches of Chromel-R metallic cloth were used.
Beta cloth was used as the material for the Skylab shower enclosure.
The interior of the Space Shuttle payload bay was almost completely covered with Beta cloth. This helps protect while staying open for weeks at a time in space.
Some Beta cloth is used on MSL's rover Curiosity.
Video Beta cloth
Micrometeroid impact on Beta cloth
Maps Beta cloth
See also
- Multi-layer insulation
External links
- NASA - Multilayer Insulation Material Guidelines (1999)
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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