Performance of pulsed plasma thrusters with a non-volatile liquid propellant stored in porous ceramics with different pore diameters

Abstract

Pulsed plasma thrusters (PPTs) typically have characteristics like a high specific impulse, a small volume, a low system mass when used in microsatellites. However, the lifetime of these thrusters is limited by their disadvantages, which include carbon deposition. A non-volatile liquid perfluoropolyether showed a good capability of lower carbon deposition in previous studies, but previous investigations focused on carbon deposition. The influence of the pore diameter of porous ceramics, which can change the supply rate, has not yet been studied. Perfluoropolyether, which is impregnated into the porous ceramics with different pore diameters (10 nm, 100 nm, 1 μm), was investigated in this study. A decreasing pore diameter of porous ceramics resulted in a lower resupply rate to reduce the ablated mass bit (the consumption of propellant per discharge) of PPTs. The use of perfluoropolyether resulted in an increase in the ablated mass bit and impulse bit, and a decrease in the specific impulse and efficiency. When using perfluoropolyether, the impulse bit increases with decreasing pore diameter of the porous ceramic. Perfluoropolyether achieved a higher specific impulse and efficiency with decreasing pore diameter of the porous ceramic, due to the increasing kinetic energy of plasma as a percentage of total energy.