Preventing wrinkling in Kapton solar sails through graphene reinforcement

In recent years, solar sails have been extensively researched, designed, and tested for various space missions. These propulsion systems rely on sunlight photons impinging on large, ultra-lightweight, thin-polymer membranes. To ensure effective propulsion, these sails must remain taut, preventing billowing. However, addressing this issue with pre-tensioning can inadvertently lead to another problem: wrinkling. In this study, nonlinear finite element models were developed to simulate wrinkling in solar sail membranes and explore its mitigation, more specifically, by reducing the number of wrinkles and their amplitude, via the use of a Katpon-graphene composite material. Two additional, and more traditional, solutions (altering (i) loading and boundary conditions and (ii) geometry) are also presented for comparison. The research findings demonstrate that modifying material properties, such as utilizing a composite material comprising the base polymer reinforced with graphene nanosheets, proves highly effective in preventing membrane wrinkling. With this approach, wrinkling can be completely avoided.