Operation of a Segmented Hall Thruster with Low-sputtering Carbon-velvet Electrodes

Raitses, Y; Staack, D; Dunaevsky, A; Fisch, N J

doi:10.2172/934607

Title: Operation of a Segmented Hall Thruster with Low-sputtering Carbon-velvet Electrodes

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Abstract

Carbon fiber velvet material provides exceptional sputtering resistance properties exceeding those for graphite and carbon composite materials. A 2 kW Hall thruster with segmented electrodes made of this material was operated in the discharge voltage range of 200–700 V. The arcing between the floating velvet electrodes and the plasma was visually observed, especially, during the initial conditioning time, which lasted for about 1 h. The comparison of voltage versus current and plume characteristics of the Hall thruster with and without segmented electrodes indicates that the magnetic insulation of the segmented thruster improves with the discharge voltage at a fixed magnetic field. The observations reported here also extend the regimes wherein the segmented Hall thruster can have a narrower plume than that of the conventional nonsegmented thruster.

Authors:: Raitses, Y; Staack, D; Dunaevsky, A; Fisch, N J

Publication Date:: Thu Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2005

Research Org.:: Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

OSTI Identifier:: 934607

Report Number(s):: PPPL-4136
TRN: US0803878

DOE Contract Number:: DE-AC02-76CH03073

Resource Type:: Technical Report

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; CARBON; CARBON FIBERS; COMPOSITE MATERIALS; ELECTRODES; GRAPHITE; MAGNETIC FIELDS; MAGNETIC INSULATION; PLASMA; PLUMES; SPUTTERING; THRUSTERS; carbon fibres, plasma magnetohydrodynamics, sputtering, electrodes, arcs (electric), plasma-wall interactions

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                    Raitses, Y, Staack, D, Dunaevsky, A, and Fisch, N J. Operation of a Segmented Hall Thruster with Low-sputtering Carbon-velvet Electrodes.  United States: N. p., 2005. 
        Web.  doi:10.2172/934607.

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                    Raitses, Y, Staack, D, Dunaevsky, A, & Fisch, N J. Operation of a Segmented Hall Thruster with Low-sputtering Carbon-velvet Electrodes.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.2172/934607

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                    Raitses, Y, Staack, D, Dunaevsky, A, and Fisch, N J. 2005.  
        "Operation of a Segmented Hall Thruster with Low-sputtering Carbon-velvet Electrodes".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.2172/934607.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/934607.

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@article{osti_934607,

  title        = {Operation of a Segmented Hall Thruster with Low-sputtering Carbon-velvet Electrodes},

  author       = {Raitses, Y and Staack, D and Dunaevsky, A and Fisch, N J},

  abstractNote = {Carbon fiber velvet material provides exceptional sputtering resistance properties exceeding those for graphite and carbon composite materials. A 2 kW Hall thruster with segmented electrodes made of this material was operated in the discharge voltage range of 200–700 V. The arcing between the floating velvet electrodes and the plasma was visually observed, especially, during the initial conditioning time, which lasted for about 1 h. The comparison of voltage versus current and plume characteristics of the Hall thruster with and without segmented electrodes indicates that the magnetic insulation of the segmented thruster improves with the discharge voltage at a fixed magnetic field. The observations reported here also extend the regimes wherein the segmented Hall thruster can have a narrower plume than that of the conventional nonsegmented thruster.},

  doi          = {10.2172/934607},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/934607},
  journal      = {},
number       = ,

  volume       = ,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Thu Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2005},

  month        = {Thu Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2005}

}

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