Study on Large-Scale Arrayed Micro Thruster with Nano Propellant

This paper introduces a micro MEMS thrusters array, including the thruster unit structure, fabrication result and the solid propellant. A four layers MEMS structure is designed for the thruster unit and the sample after packaging is presented. The double-base propellant and AP/HTPB/A1 composite propellant are investigated in detail. Meanwhile, two ignition schemes are studied including the directly ignition by ignition resistor and the indirectly propellant ignition by the heat released from the ignition powder deflagration. Granularity lead styphnate is selected as the ignition powder. Based on the analyses of the propellant energy, the paper gives the propellant prescription. The thruster ignition experiments are completed and the tests of the sample ignition voltage for two different ignition modes are compared. The statistics and the analysis of the ignition success rate are presented. It is shown that this structure and the corresponding propellant can meet the requirement of micro space attitude control system.