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S 618-iepc-95-93 Fabrication and Testing of Carbon-carbon Composite Grids for a 14 Cm Ion Thruster
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Kitamura, Shoji Miyazaki, Katsuhiro Hayakawa, Yukio Wako Nakamura, Yoshihiro Yamaguchi |
| Copyright Year | 2008 |
| Abstract | Carbon-carbon composite grids were fabricated and tested for a 14 cm diameter xenon ion thruster. The objective is to demonstrate the thruster performance capability of carbon-carbon grids in comparison with molybdenum grids. Several drilling methods were examined and evaluated in terms of hole finish and drilling cost. Results showed that the best method is mechanical drilling with a tungsten-carbide bit. Carbon-carbon grids were fabricated from PANbased carbon-carbon composite panels by this method. The accelerator grid was made 0.8 mm thick at a 27 % open area fraction. The screen grid was made 0.5 mm thick at a 67 % open area fraction. The grids attained satisfactory accuracy in dimensions, except for the screen grid flatness. This grid set was tested on the ion thruster. Thruster performance and grid perveance were measured, and compared with those of molybdenum grids. Test results showed that the carbon-carbon grids gave almost the same thruster performance as the molybdenum grids. Accelerator grid currents were larger for the carbon-carbon grids. The ion beam was less divergent for the carbon-carbon grids. For the carbon-carbon grids, initial arcing continued for a longer period even at lower total voltages. They suffered heavy damage by this arcing, which indicated that carbon-carbon grids require further improvements to mitigate arcing. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://erps.spacegrant.org/uploads/images/images/iepc_articledownload_1988-2007/1995index/IEPC1995-93.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
