Space Adhesives: Fundamentals, Preparation, and Impact of Space Environment

Adhesives and adhesive joints have replaced conventional methods such as riveting, welding, and mechanical joints as a valuable way for assembling space structures, due to their significant reduction in spacecraft mass and also having optimum properties (high mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties, simultaneously, appropriate to the application). Space adhesives, in addition to having unique properties, have the ability to be used for a long time and are resistant to the space environment. These adhesives are used to bond similar structures (metal or composite) and metal / composite structures. In this research, an attempt has been made to introduce the types of adhesives, their production methods, and theire application. The space environment and its components such as energetic charged particles, solar electromagnetic radiation and atomic oxygen are introduced and finally the effect of the components on their properties and mechanisms of their destruction are discussed