Abstract
The Hall thruster is a high-efficiency spacecraft propulsion device that utilizes plasma to generate thrust. The most common variant of the Hall thruster is the stationary plasma thruster (SPT). Erosion of the SPT discharge chamber wall by plasma sputtering degrades thruster performance and ultimately ends thruster life. Many efforts over the past few decades have endeavored to understand wall erosion so that novel thrusters can be designed to operate for the thousands of hours required by many missions. However, due to the challenges presented by the plasma and material physics associated with erosion, a complete understanding has thus far eluded researchers. Sputtering rates are not well quantified, erosion features remain unexplained, and computational models are not yet predictive. This article reviews the physics of plasma-induced SPT erosion, highlights important experimental findings, provides an overview of modeling efforts, and discusses erosion mitigation strategies.
Highlights
The purpose of this review is to introduce the reader to the unique challenges presented by plasma-induced Hall thruster erosion and to overview experimental and computational studies on the topic
These results indicate that sputtering on an atomic, rather thanwithout molecular, application of a conductive surface coating
Experimental uncertainties in available experimental data and limitations in computing power have far prevented the development of truly predictive models. Though they can accurately reproduce the decaying erosion rate trend observed in Hall thruster life tests, most contemporary models are highly sensitive to tunable parameters that must be adjusted to match preexisting thruster erosion data
Summary
The is ais spacecraft propulsion device that generates thrust via electrostatic acceleration. Performance varies across design and power class, but typical thrusters have a demonstrated lifespan on the order of 10,000 h and produce 0.1–1 N of thrust with a specific impulse (total imparted momentum per unit weight of propellant) of 1000–3000 s [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. Hall thruster erosion is the gradual removal of ceramic material from the discharge chamber walls by plasma sputtering. The sputtering rate of the ceramic discharge chamber walls has not been adequately quantified, the connection between erosion and performance degradation requires further study, and an explanation of the ubiquitous presence of so-called “anomalous” erosion ridges in thruster life tests has remained elusive. Hall thruster is used synonymously with SPT in this review
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