Uflex develops satellite thermal radiation insulation film

Anand Prakash Gupta, from the speciality films and R&D department at Flex Films, Noida, said: ‘ISRO approached us in an endeavor to achieve its vision of self-reliance in Indian Space Programme, which aims at engaging more Indian industries in producing space worthy products and technologies for its specific applications.

‘Its desired specifications were in electro-optical and physical terms like solar transmittance, IR emittance, thickness of coating in nanometers on both sides of the substrate, and a wide working temperature range of minus 150 to 120 degrees C, to name a few.

‘The real challenge was to convert these specifications into our measurable norm. For this, we sent an A4 sized sample to ISRO to get everything measured and tested in its terms. When ISRO reverted with its requirements in the parameters that they recognize, we extrapolated that information to our measurable norm. Performing metallization in a conventional metallizer was fraught with high risks of getting scratches and other aberrations – anomalies which were absolutely unacceptable for a high precision job that we were processing for ISRO. Further we developed some specialized coatings and applied on the substrate to ensure flawless metallization, as required by ISRO.’

Jagmohan Mongia, president of Flex Films India, added: ‘The specialized metallized film that we supplied to ISRO was subjected to space environmental tests and passed through all parameters and tests qualifying for space application. After this major breakthrough, we now look forward to working with ISRO more closely in other research areas and technologies.’

Ashok Chaturvedi, chairman and managing director, Uflex, concluded: ‘The most gratifying part of this whole engagement is that Uflex has been able to contribute to ISRO’s endeavor of indigenization and becoming self-reliant in space technology applications. This is a perfect example of an Indian polymeric film manufacturer meeting and exceeding the performance parameters set by ISRO.’