Multilayer Coating Method for Investigating Channel-Wall Erosion in a Hall Thruster

摘要

A HALL thruster is a component of an electric propulsion system that produces a higher specific impulse than a chemical thruster (～1000-3000 s) and has a relatively high thrust efficiency compared with other electric thrusters (～50%) [1,2]. As is the case for other electric propulsion systems, an important performance criterion is lifetime because typical missions require operation for thousands of hours [3]. The Hall thruster lifetime is mainly determined by erosion of the channel-wall insulator. This is caused by ion sputtering in which accelerated propellant ions impinge on the insulator channel wall and remove its molecules [4]. Thus, long-duration tests [5-8] as well as numerical erosion simulations [9-12] have been conducted to evaluate and improve the lifetime performance of Hall thrusters.