BLAST-LARGE

In the partner project BLAST-LARGE within the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence for Advanced Photon Sources CAPS, the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute, HHI together with the core institute Fraunhofer ILT (Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology, Aachen) is investigating the scale-up of the processing of thermally highly emissive metal surfaces.

Such surfaces allow to achieve a thermal emissivity of >95 % on almost any metal (aluminum, titanium, steel, nickel, brass, ...). Radiative heat dissipation (thermal radiation) is the only way to realize cooling in vacuum or space, respectively. This is relevant for the power electronics of satellites, but also scientific instruments. The structures produced by femtosecond laser processing are not only thermally highly emissive, but also extremely robust and resistant to mechanical (micrometeorites, temperature fluctuations, high temperatures >1000 °C) or chemical (atomic oxygen) stress. For the heat dissipation of satellites in practical use, planar heat sinks in the dimensions of the satellite are necessary. In this project, therefore, scaling to the square meter is to be realized and applied to honeycomb plates made of aluminum alloys, which are used as outer walls of satellites. The targeted process times are in the range of 1 m² / day.