Studies to reduce material erosion in electrothermal launchers

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · IEEE Transactions on Magnetics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States)

OSTI ID:5655328

Gilligan, J; Bourham, M; Hankins, O; Auciello, O; Tallavarjula, S; Mobanti, R ^[1]

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1. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering

This paper reports that during the exposure of launcher components of high heat fluxes a vapor shield (plasma boundary layer) is formed which absorbs a fraction of the incoming energy, and thus naturally reduces the surface erosion. Computer simulation has shown that a strong externally applied magnetic field parallel to the surface may reduce the surface erosion, since the energy transport though the vapor shield will be reduced due to decreased turbulence. The experimental electrothermal launcher device SIRENS has been operated to measure the erosion of material surfaces subjected to high heat flux from a high density low temperature plasma (1-3 eV) with a strong applied magnetic field. The plasma is produced by the ablation of the insulator (Lexan), with currents up to 100 kA over a pulse length of 100{mu}s, and flows through a cylindrical barrel which serves as the material sample. Ablation and erosion for both the insulator and sample surfaces are caused by convection and radiation emitted from the plasma. The ablated thickness of the Lexan insulator compares favorably with predicted values. The key parameter is f, the fraction of total incident energy that is transmitted to the eroding surface which is flux and material dependent but in the range 5-20%.

• OSTI ID: 5655328
• Report Number(s): CONF-9004136--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Magnetics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States) Journal Volume: 27:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700411* -- Inertial Confinement Devices-- (1992-)
700430 -- Fusion Technology-- Magnet Coils & Fields-- (1992-)
BOUNDARY LAYERS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
EROSION
HEAT FLUX
LAYERS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MATERIALS TESTING
MULTI-CHANNEL ANALYZERS
OPTICALLY THICK PLASMA
PLASMA
PLASMA FLUID EQUATIONS
PLASMA GUNS
PLASMA PRODUCTION
PLASMA SCRAPE-OFF LAYER
PLASMA SIMULATION
PULSE ANALYZERS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
SHIELDING
SIMULATION
SURFACES
TEMPERATURE RANGE
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0065-0273 K
TESTING
THERMAL CYCLING