Title :
Comparative study of component erosion for electromagnetic and electrothermal launchers
Author :
Bourham, M.A. ; Hankins, O.E. ; Gilligan, J.G. ; Hurley, J.D. ; Earnhart, J.R.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Nucl. Eng., North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC, USA
fDate :
1/1/1993 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
The electrothermal launcher SIRENS has been used to study the erosion of critical components (rails and insulators) of plasma-driven launchers. SIRENS can produce high-density (>1025/m3 ) low-temperature (1-3 eV) plasma, formed by the ablation of the insulator (Lexan), with currents up to 100 kA. The incident heat flux varies between 2 and 90 GW/m2 over 100 μs duration, for input energies of 1-10 kJ. Erosion studies have been performed on several insulators, pure and coated metals, alloys, and several graphite grades. The fraction of the total incident energy transmitted to the eroded surface varies from 12 to 30% for the materials tested and decreases to 5-7% as the incident energy fluence increases. Such reduction in erosion for a given incident fluence is due to the vapor shield effect. The scaling law for the energy transmission factor through the vapor shield layer was obtained for the exposed materials
Keywords :
electromagnetic launchers; insulators; plasma guns; wear; 1 to 10 kJ; 100 kA; 100 mus; EM launchers; Lexan; SIRENS; alloys; coated metals; component erosion; electrothermal launchers; energy transmission factor; graphite; high density plasma; insulators; low temperature plasma; plasma-driven launchers; rails; vapor shield effect; Electrical resistance measurement; Electromagnetic launching; Electrothermal launching; Inorganic materials; Insulation; Materials testing; Plasma materials processing; Plasma measurements; Plasma sources; Plasma temperature;
Journal_Title :
Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on
