Investigation of ionic erosion process within stationary plasma thruster

Аuthors

Nadiradze A. B.^1*, Khartov S. A.^**, Shaposhnikov V. .²

1. ,
2. Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University), 4, Volokolamskoe shosse, Moscow, А-80, GSP-3, 125993, Russia

*e-mail: nadiradze@mai.ru
**e-mail: skhartov@ya.ru

Abstract

An analysis and experimental data are presented to reveal ionic sputtering features of ceramic chamber surfaces for a stationary plasma thruster (SPT). An important conclusion is made according to the obtained results. Namely, the main feature of ionic erosion (sputtering) of ceramic materials used in the SPT is some surface heating up to a temperature under which an exponential growth comes for the sputtering coefficient. Data about selectivity of the sputtering mechanism are obtained too. This mechanism causes decreasing of nitrogen percentage in the SPT chamber surface layers. A procedure is suggested to test ionic sputtering tolerance of material samples during the SPT trials.