Numerical Simulation And Experimental Study Of Micro-Cathode Arc Thruster

With the development of aerospace technology,Electric Propulsion(EP)technology plays an increasingly important role in space exploration.Micro-cathode arc thruster(μ-CAT)is a new type of pulsed discharge thruster,which consists of discharge chamber,external magnetic circuit device and pulse high voltage power supply.It uses the pulsed high voltage generated by the power source to break down the electrode of the discharge chamber,and then an arc discharge phenomenon occurs,which continuously ablate and break down the cathode metal material to generate plasma,which is accelerated by the magnetic field generated by the magnetic circuit device to generate thrust.μ-CAT has the characteristics of small mass and volume,high specific impulse,simple processing,and no need to carry additional working fluid,which is convenient for mass production and modular assembly.It can be used for spacecraft orbit changes,error compensation,deep space detection,etc.μ-CAT is widely used in micronano satellites.This article summarizes the development status of μ-CAT at home and abroad,analyzes the working principle of μ-CAT in detail,and conducts numerical simulation and experimental research on the coaxial micro-cathode arc thruster.First,the plume simulation program was written using the algorithm of Plasma Particle Simulation.On the premise of ensuring the correct simulation results of important physical parameters,the calculation time of the program was shortened and accelerated by the reduction algorithm and the motion conversion formula.The program simulates the μ-CAT plasma plume under a given working condition,and obtains the parameters of the particle density distribution,electric potential and magnetic field distribution,ion velocity and other parameters in the calculation area.The influence of the position of the magnetic circuit system and the magnitude of the current on the plume performance were calculated using the control variable method;Subsequently,under the guidance of related theories,the thruster discharge chamber was designed and improved,the thruster magnetic circuit device and the vacuum chamber required for the experiment were designed and manufactured,the measurement probes,sensors and other components required in the experiment were selected,and the μ-CAT high vacuum experiment platform was built.In the experiment,the discharge phenomenon,cathode ablation,insulation ceramic erosion,discharge characteristics,etc.of μ-CAT were observed and recorded,and the erosion results of the insulation ceramics in different thruster discharge chambers after discharge were compared.The principle analysis of various phenomena appeared in the experiment.