Title :
Vapor shielding and erosion of surfaces exposed to a high heat load in an electrothermal accelerator
Author :
Bourham, Mohamed A. ; Hankins, Orlando E. ; Auciello, O. ; Stock, Joseph M. ; Wehring, Bernard W. ; Mohanti, Roma B. ; Gilligan, John G.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Nucl. Eng., North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC, USA
fDate :
6/1/1989 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
The experimental and theoretical verification of the vapour shield concept in an electrothermal accelerator is reported. Measurements of the ablation mass loss of the insulator material (Lexan) demonstrate that the energy transmission factor through the vapor shield is of the order of 10%. If enough vapor is produced under high heat flux, the vapor shield mechanism will help limit the surface erosion in electromechanical devices. The erosion of the barrel material (aluminum) has a strong axial dependence, and the erosion depth increases with input energy
Keywords :
thermal insulating materials; wear; Al; ablation mass loss; axial dependence; barrel material; electromechanical devices; electrothermal accelerator; energy transmission factor; erosion; erosion depth; heat flux; high heat load; input energy; insulator material; surface erosion; surfaces; vapour shield concept; Acceleration; Electrothermal effects; Electrothermal launching; Plasma density; Plasma devices; Plasma materials processing; Plasma simulation; Plasma sources; Plasma temperature; Plasma transport processes;
Journal_Title :
Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on
