Pulsed Plasma Thruster Backflow Characteristics

Rudolph, Larry; Pless, L. C.; Harstad, K.

doi:10.2514/3.57763

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…More recently, they have beeen employed in the exhaust plumes of solid propellant pulsed plasma accelerators to map the propellant distribution by condensing propellant vapor on the surface of cooled QCM's, although these measurements were complicated by incomplete accommodation of the plasma to the QCM temperature and by backstreaming of propellant in the vacuum tank. 12 The present application of QCM's for erosion measurement is categorically different from such experiments in that it uses the frequency sensitive character of the QCM to measure mass loss rather than mass gain. Briefly, the concept involves coating one surface electrode of the QCM with boron nitride, mounting the QCM flush in the boron nitride backplate, and monitoring its change in frequency as the boron nitride coating is eroded by the MPD discharge.…”

Section: Qcm Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 98%

Erosion Measurements on Quasisteady Magnetoplasmadynamic Thrusters

Rowe

Jaskowsky

Clark

et al. 1982

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

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Erosion of the boron nitride chamber insulator of a high power quasisteady magnetoplasmadynamic thruster has been measured directly using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) method. A l-|*-thick layer of boron nitride is sputtered on the QCM, after which it is mounted flush in the boron nitride backplate insulator, and monitored for change in resonant frequency following thruster operation. The measurements confirm the concept of an "onset" arc current, above which severe erosion occurs, but below which long-term thruster operation at interesting performance levels appears promising.

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Section: Qcm Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 98%