Abstract
In order to investigate the influence of discharge parameters and cathode material on the ablation and thrust performance of micro-vacuum arc thruster （μVAT）， this paper establishes a cathode spot ablation model of μVAT， completing the numerical simulation on the working performance of the thruster， and verifies the model validity by comparing with the experiments. The ablation characteristics of several typical cathode materials （Al， Ti， Cu） are systematically compared， quantitative relationships between working performance parameters and arc current are obtained， which include ion current， cathode ablation rate， cathode spot ablation radius， thrust， specific impulse， thrust to power ratio， efficiency. The results show that the change of arc current and the selection of cathode material in the working process will have a significant impact on the performance of the thruster. Considering the requirements of each target performance parameter， the overall performance of the thruster is optimal when copper is used as the cathode material.
| Translated title of the contribution | Numerical simulation of ablation performance of micro- vacuum arc thruster using a cathode-spot model |
|---|---|
| Original language | Chinese (Traditional) |
| Article number | 2308002 |
| Journal | Tuijin Jishu/Journal of Propulsion Technology |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2024 |