Construction and operational characteristics of a plasma-propellant interaction experiment

Summary form only given. The plasma-propellant interaction experiment "PIPE" consists of an electrothermal source which injects a low temperature (1-3 eV), high density (10/sup 25/-10/sup 26/m/sup 3/) plasma to the surface of either a solid or a liquid propellant. A 340-μF Maxwell capacitor is charged (up to 10 kV) and subsequently discharged to the plasma gun electrode by releasing the stored energy (up to 15 kJ). The source plasma is injected to the propellant material which is placed on a test stand, followed by a material test stand to expose material surfaces to the plasma under combustion conditions. A parallel transmission line has been used to increase the pulse length to 400 μs, with a total system inductance of 800 nH. Various diagnostics are arranged to allow the measurement of the propellant\´s burn rate, pressure and stress distribution, heat flux calorimetry, and plasma velocity. Preliminary measurements of burn rate, flame vapor shield, and material erosion have been performed.