Comparisons of kinetic ablation models for the capillary discharge

Abstract

The properties of kinetic ablation models are considered in this paper. The widely used kinetic ablation model (model-K) only considers monatomic vapor. A revised model (model-Z) was introduced by taking into account the polyatomic vapor’s internal degrees of freedom, as well as the temperature dependence of the average particle mass. In this work, both temperature and pressure dependence of average particle mass and the specific heat ratio γ are taken into account, producing an improved version of model-Z (denoted model-Z∗). Ablation data calculated by model-K and model-Z∗ for two typical capillary materials are presented. Compared to model-K, model-Z∗ predicts an increased ablation rate at lower plasma temperature and higher plasma density, and a decreased rate for the opposite conditions. Finally, based on the plasma parameters in a typical discharge cycle, all three models are used to calculate the time-dependent ablation rate and the integrated ablated mass. It is found that the main difference between their results arises because of the different average particle masses near the wall surface, and model-Z∗ is the most accurate for the discharge cycle considered. Further, it is found that the ablation parameters are highly sensitive to the pressure, in particular, through the pressure dependence of average particle mass.