Combustion control requirements in high loading density, solid propellant ETC gun firings

White, Kevin J.; Stobie, Irvin C.; Oberle, William F.; Katulka, G.L.; Driesen, Simon

doi:10.1109/20.560036

Cited by 15 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…From the law of partial pressures, the plasma pressure is given by (1) or alternatively (2) Here and are the number densities of hydrogen and carbon heavy particles (atoms and ions); and represent the ratio of singly and doubly ionized carbon atoms to the total number of heavy carbon particles and represents the corresponding ratio for hydrogen; is the ratio of hydrogen to carbon particles (a constant); and are the atomic masses of carbon and hydrogen, respectively (also constants); is Boltzman's constant, is the temperature, and is the plasma density. Electron and ion collisions are accounted for in calculating the electrical conductivity of the plasma which is given as (3) in which is the electron charge, the electron concentration and and are the collision frequency for neutrals and ions, respectively. From (3), the resistance of the plasma can now be found from the relation (4) where is the plasma length, is the plasma radius, and is a constant.…”

Section: A the Plasma Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is based on simplified assumptions of energy content and discharge characteristics of standard benite primers presently used for ignition of large caliber (120-mm) propulsion systems [12]. On the other hand, for electrical enhancement of propellant burn rates or temperature compensation of conventional propellants, both of which could possibly result in enhanced propulsion performance, it is also believed that about 1 MJ of plasma energy will be required for proper ETC operation [3].…”

Section: Plasma Capillary Assumptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This paper emphasizes the characteristics of the plasma, which serves as an energy conversion mechanism between the PFN and combustion chamber for the ETC concept. Much research has been reported over the years in the areas of ETC propulsion and the physics relating to plasmas, which are characteristic of ETC systems [1]- [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Parametric study of high energy plasmas for electrothermal-chemical propulsion applications

Katulka

1997

IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.

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Theoretical calculations are performed with a one-dimensional (1-D), steady state, isothermal computer plasma model to define plasma output parameters for various input electrical energies and capillary radii of relevance to the electrothermal-chemical (ETC) propulsion concept. Three capillaries of 1.92, 4.75, and 7.0 mm radius, and a fixed length of 11.84 cm, were chosen for this study with input currents between 30 and 350 kA. Plasmas are categorized according to their total power and energy levels (based on a 3-ms pulse width) and are compared with respect to their resistance, exit pressure, and core plasma temperature. The input power ranges from 0.17 to 1.89 GW, for input energies from 0.49 to 5.80 MJ, which is considered suitable coverage for ETC ignition through ETC enhanced propulsion concepts. The study shows that the range of resistance, pressure, and temperature are 12.8-195 m, 19.8-2000 MPa, and 2.9-13.5 eV, respectively, for the chosen capillary geometry. Flow conditions for plasma calculations include choked (no pressure boundary) and unchoked (450-MPa pressure boundary) for some calculations. Results from the computational model and interpretations from the perspective of capillary implementation into ETC propulsion concepts are also included.

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Section: A the Plasma Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Plasma Capillary Assumptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Parametric study of high energy plasmas for electrothermal-chemical propulsion applications

Katulka

1997

IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.

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“…revealed that plasma ignition can not only increase the burn rate of propellants, but also reduce the temperature coefficient of propellants, which results that the ETC gun can complete the firing under higher pressure. Their other experiment indicates that the burn rate of propellants is also a function of plasma temperature, and the burn rate increases with the increase of plasma temperature. Li et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Numerical Simulation of Plasma‐Propellant Interaction Under the Non‐Fourier Model

Zhang

2019

Propellants Explo Pyrotec

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Due to the signicant characteristics of shorter and more reproducible ignition delay, plasma ignition becomes one of the key technologies of electrothermal-chemical (ETC) propulsion. Plasma ignition is a complex heat transfer process, characterized by high temperature, high pressure, micro-scale and extremely short duration. Under such extreme conditions, the assumption that the propagation speed of thermal disturbance is infinite in Fourier's law is no longer applicable. As such, for accurate prediction the non-Fourier model with dual-phase-lag (DPL) is adopted to describe the interaction process between the plasma and the propellant. The temperature history of propellant is ob-tained by Dufort-frankel numerical difference method. The numerical results obtained by DPL model are compared with the results by the Fourier model and Cattaneo-Vernotte (CÀ V) model, it shows that the DPL model occupies preferable prediction performance. Additionally, the effects of plasma temperature, particle radius and absorber thickness on ignition delay are discussed. It finds that the ignition delay decreases with the increase of plasma temperature, increases with the increase of particle radius, and increases with the increase of absorber thickness. The numerical results based on DPL model are verified by the experimental results as well.

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“…In recent tests conducted on EM rail material, for example, it has been demonstrated experimentally that a simulant aluminum armature on a Ti substrate produced the best performance in terms of minimizing rail material deposition [5]. In addition, ETC gun plasma sources are known to operate in the 10-20,000 K temperature region, which can potentially lead to metal surface erosion and alterations to the IOW molecular weight plasma that is sought for ETC ignition and combustion control [6], [A. It has been reported that a significant percentage (1 4-23%) of the total energy contained in the typical ETC plasma source is consumed by ablation and dissociation of polyethylene and copper components of ETC plasma generators [l].…”

Section: It Benefits Of Sic In Electric Gun Missionsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Analysis of metalized 4H-SiC for high-temperature electric weapon applications

Katulka¹,

Kolodzey²,

Olowolafe³

Conference Record of the Twenty-Third International Power Modulator Symposium (Cat. No. 98CH36133)

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While silicon (Si) based electronic materials and devices continue to play a dominant role in much of the electrical power industry, novel high-power and high-temperature materials are of great interest to the electric combat systems community. The technical interest in silicon carbide (Sic) is mainly due to its ability to operate at greatly elevated power and temperature (>300° C) levels compared to its Si-based counterpart. High-power and temperature pulsed-power electronics can be exploited by future military combat systems, which could potentially provide significantly improved combat vehicle performance including increased lethality through extending the maximum obtainable gun performance using advanced electric weapon concepts such as electrothermal-chemical (ETC) and electromagnetic (EM) gun technologies.The results of recent experiments conducted at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and theUniversity of Delaware demonstrate the electrical behavior of Sic and metal ohmic-contact layers as a function of thermal stress. These experiments havedetermined that both titanium (Ti) and tantalum (Ta) metalization structures will provide a stable electrical ohmic-contact with n-type Sic at elevated temperatures for short bursts of time that are relevant for pulsed-powered electric weapon technologies. The Ti-Sic structure investigated exhibited a stable current-voltage (I-V) characteristic to as much as 800" C for a 10-min burst, while Ta metalizations provided a stable I-V characteristic on Sic even after a temperature burst of 1,000' C for as long as a 3-min interval.

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Combustion control requirements in high loading density, solid propellant ETC gun firings

Cited by 15 publications

References 1 publication

Parametric study of high energy plasmas for electrothermal-chemical propulsion applications

Parametric study of high energy plasmas for electrothermal-chemical propulsion applications

Numerical Simulation of Plasma‐Propellant Interaction Under the Non‐Fourier Model

Analysis of metalized 4H-SiC for high-temperature electric weapon applications

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