Actualization of an efficient throttleable laser propulsion mode

Zhang, Haonan; Duan, Buren; Wu, Lizhi; Hua, Zuohao; Bao, Zijing; Guo, Ning; Ye, Yinghua; Galfetti, L.; DeLuca, Luigi T.; Shen, Ruiqi

doi:10.1016/j.energy.2021.119870

Cited by 19 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Various materials can be used as propellants for LAPPTs such as metals, oxides, carbon, and polymers, owing to the high energy density deposition of the laser [22][23][24]. Even though polymeric propellants are considered a promising option due to their relatively low conductivity and high specific heat [25], most of them have a white or transparent appearance, resulting in lower laser absorption coefficients that limit their performance in an LAPPT [26,27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Investigation on Plume Characteristics of PTFE-Filled Carbon, Graphite, Graphene for Laser-Assisted Pulsed Plasma Thruster

et al. 2023

Applied Sciences

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This paper presents an investigation into the plume characteristics of composite propellants fabricated by polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) filled with different carbon additives (nano-carbon powder, graphite, and graphene) under laser irradiation in a vacuum environment. The dynamic plumes generated by the laser ablation of different modified propellant samples were captured using a high-speed camera, and the feature parameters of the plumes were extracted by image processing. The results indicated that doping carbon particles in PTFE enhanced the quality of the plasma plumes. The plume area increased up to a certain value and then stabilized, while end of plume clusters remained for a short time. Further analysis revealed that the propellant sample doped with graphene exhibited the maximum plume length and expansion rate, whereas the propellant sample doped with nano-carbon demonstrated the largest plume area. Moreover, a higher graphene doping ratio promoted greater plume length, expansion speed, and plume area. However, when the doping ratio exceeded 3%, the gain of the plume parameters gradually became saturated, and the optimal doping ratio appeared to be 5%.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Investigation on Plume Characteristics of PTFE-Filled Carbon, Graphite, Graphene for Laser-Assisted Pulsed Plasma Thruster

et al. 2023

Applied Sciences

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“…The interaction between the laser pulse-induced plasma (or shock wave) and the material is the physical mechanism for the performance of pulsed laser ablation [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 34 ]. To further improve the ablation performance of pulsed lasers for liquid propellants, efforts have been made to synergistically optimize laser ablation performance by coupling laser energy into energetic propellants [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ]. However, considering the solubility and oxidation resistance of laser absorbers, laser energy deposition of energetic liquid propellants at the micrometer scale is still difficult to achieve.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transmissive Mode Laser Micro-Ablation Performance of Ammonium Dinitramide-Based Liquid Propellant for Laser Micro-Thruster

Zheng

Mao

et al. 2023

Micromachines

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The transmissive mode laser micro-ablation performance of near-infrared (NIR) dye-optimized ammonium dinitramide (ADN)-based liquid propellant was investigated in laser plasma propulsion using a pulse YAG laser with 5 ns pulse width and 1064 nm wavelength. Miniature fiber optic near-infrared spectrometer, differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and high-speed camera were used to study laser energy deposition, thermal analysis of ADN-based liquid propellants and the flow field evolution process, respectively. Experimental results indicate that two important factors, laser energy deposition efficiency and heat release from energetic liquid propellants, obviously affect the ablation performance. The results showed that the best ablation effect of 0.4 mL ADN solution dissolved in 0.6 mL dye solution (40%-AAD) liquid propellant was obtained with the ADN liquid propellant content increasing in the combustion chamber. Furthermore, adding 2% ammonium perchlorate (AP) solid powder gave rise to variations in the ablation volume and energetic properties of propellants, which enhanced the propellant enthalpy variable and burn rate. Based on the AP optimized laser ablation, the optimal single-pulse impulse (I)~9.8 μN·s, specific impulse (Isp)~234.9 s, impulse coupling coefficient (Cm)~62.43 dyne/W and energy factor (η)~71.2% were obtained in 200 µm scale combustion chamber. This work would enable further improvements in the small volume and high integration of liquid propellant laser micro-thruster.

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“…The Russian laser ablation micro-thruster with a volume of 2U failed to launch. Cai et al [20,21], Zheng et al [22,23], Wu et al [24,25] and Hong et al [26,27] conducted extensive research on the mechanism of laser-matter interactions and the engineering applications of laser propulsion technology, and contributed to the development of laser propulsion technology. However, in the past few decades, urgent problems have arisen that need to be addressed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of laser pulse width and target thickness on laser micro-propulsion performance

Wang¹,

Du²,

Du³

et al. 2022

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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In order to optimize laser ablation performance of a micro-thruster with 1U dimensions, which employs a micro semiconductor laser, the impacts of pulse width and glycidyl azide polymer (GAP) thickness on thrust performance was researched. The results showed that with a GAP thickness of 200 μm, the single-pulse impulse (I) increased gradually with the increase in the laser pulse width from 50 to 800 μs, while the specific impulse (Isp), impulse coupling coefficient (Cm), and ablation efficiency (η) all reached optimal values with a 200 μs pulse width. It’s worth noting that the optimal pulse width is exactly the ignition delay time. Both Cm and η peaked with the pulse width of 200 μs, reaching 242.22 μN/W and 35.4%, respectively. With the increase in the GAP thickness, the I and the Cm increased gradually. The GAP of different thickness corresponded to different optimal laser pulse width. Under a certain laser pulse width, the optimal GAP thickness should be the most vertical thickness of the ablation pit, and the various propulsion performance parameters at this time were also optimal. With the current laser parameters, the optimal GAP thickness was approximately 150 μm, the Isp was approximately 322.22 s, and the η was approximately 34.94%.

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Actualization of an efficient throttleable laser propulsion mode

Cited by 19 publications

References 44 publications

Experimental Investigation on Plume Characteristics of PTFE-Filled Carbon, Graphite, Graphene for Laser-Assisted Pulsed Plasma Thruster

Experimental Investigation on Plume Characteristics of PTFE-Filled Carbon, Graphite, Graphene for Laser-Assisted Pulsed Plasma Thruster

Transmissive Mode Laser Micro-Ablation Performance of Ammonium Dinitramide-Based Liquid Propellant for Laser Micro-Thruster

Impacts of laser pulse width and target thickness on laser micro-propulsion performance

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