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Will capacitors lose their electrolyte in space and dry up?

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sunrise264

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I read two articles,one from wikipedia and the another from a blog name Green Electronic Tutorial.
In the one name "Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster",it shows that Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster is an electric sports car that was the dummy payload for the Falcon Heavy test flight in February 2018. Starman, a mannequin dressed in a spacesuit, occupies the driver's seat. The 2008 Tesla Roadster car and Falcon Heavy rocket are products of Elon Musk's companies, Tesla and SpaceX. This electric car was previously used by Musk for commuting, and it is the only consumer car sent into space.
In the another pages name "What are the common electronic components",it shows a list of ten common electronic components for engineers, and related basic concepts and knowledge.
These two pages made me wonder about the reliability of common electronic components in hard vacuum.

The question I'm asking is about the kind of components you would find in Musks's car-turned-stellar object, not specific components designed for space applications.

  • Would electrolytic capacitors lose their electrolyte and dry up?
  • Would LiIon batteries' pressure release safety valves pop?
  • Would chips popcorn due to moisture evaporating in vacuum?
  • Would the LCD's liquid crystals evaporate?

Obviously, air-cooling of electronics would no longer work.
Radiation would zap CPUs and RAM...
The evaporation of axle grease and coolant shouldn't matter that much due to lack of roads...
 

Strange questions!

However, I was once asked to design a control box to be fitted to the outside of the ISS so there is some relevance to them.

Wet electrolytics would most certainly pop their vents/base plugs but otherwise might survive. Low temperature would be more of a problem than vacuum. Solid electrolytics should survive mechanically but temperature would still be an issue.

LiIon batteries similarly would pop their vents but might continue to work afterwards.

Not sure about the chips, it would depend in the difference between internal and external pressure. If they 'leaked' enough the differential might be too low to pop them.

LCDs probably would survive but their low temperature range would stop them working, in fact could freeze the image on them!

Radiation is not welcome to electronics but most devices will withstand (or are hardened against) mild doses and might continue to work normally, at least for a long time.

Brian.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but that is the reason that MIL-specd tantalum capacitors were developed, for Aerospace/ Military applications?
 

I think the Aerospace/Military classification is more to do with high reliability in those critical situations than being able to handle hard vacuum, high radiation and extreme temperatures.

Tantalum capacitors are almost all 'dry' types anyway these days and hence un-vented. I haven't used a wet tantalum type in years, I'm not sure they even manufactured these days.

Brian.
 

I found one (Vishay) from a UK distributor at 163.00 UK (about $200) so I don't think I'll be buying stock in! The low temperature limit and lack of degradation may make them suitable for use in space but I would still have reservations about hard vacuum.

Brian.
 

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