Uflex develops satellite thermal radiation insulation film for ISRO

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Uflex develops satellite thermal radiation insulation film for ISRO

Uflex develops satellite thermal radiation insulation film for ISRO

Industry News
Jul 12,18

The specialised metallised film supplied to ISRO has passed through all parameters/tests qualifying for space application

Uflex develops satellite thermal radiation insulation film for ISRO

Noida, July 12, 2018

Uflex, the flexible packaging materials and solution company, has developed satellite thermal radiation insulation film for Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

ISRO had approached Flex Films - the films manufacturing arm of Uflex Limited - earlier in September 2017 with a requirement of specialised film for passive thermal control of spacecraft components. Taking this requirement in its stride, the engineers at Flex Films India developed a solution for ISRO in a record time period of 6 months.

Talking more about this specialised film, Anand Prakash Gupta from Speciality Films and R&D Department at Flex Films, said, “ISRO approached us in an endeavour to achieve its vision to self-reliance in Indian Space Programme which aims at engaging more Indian industries in producing space worthy products/technologies for its specific applications. Their desired specifications were in electro-optical and physical terms like solar transmittance, IR emittance, thickness of coating in nano-meters on both sides of the substrate and wide spectrum working temperature of -150 to +120 degrees Celsius to name a few.”

The real challenge was to convert these specifications into a measurable norm. For this, Flex Films sent an A4 sized sample to ISRO to get everything measured and tested in their terms. “When ISRO reverted to us with their requirements in the parameters that they recognise, we extrapolated that information to our measurable norm. Performing metallisation in conventional metalliser 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 specialised coatings and applied on the substrate to ensure flawless metallisation as required by ISRO,” informed Gupta.

Jagmohan Mongia, President, Flex Films India, commented, “The specialised metallised film that we supplied to ISRO was subjected to space environmental tests and passed through all parameters/tests qualifying for space application. Here, I would particularly like to acknowledge the unrelenting and hard work by the metallising team of Flex Films India without which it would not have been possible for us to accomplish this goal. After this major break-through, we now look forward to working with ISRO more closely in other research areas and technologies. This is just the beginning.”

Ashok Chaturvedi, Chairman & Managing Director, Uflex Limited, said, “The most gratifying part of this whole engagement is that Uflex has been able to contribute to ISRO’s endeavour of indigenisation 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 Indian Space Research Organization. This is a major win for Make in India and a moment of truth for Made in India.”