Plasma accelerator was used for the deposition of a material powder placed at a
breach. A capacitor bank of 46.26 μF charged to 3 kV (208.17 J) gave a peak current
of 8.8 kA after 15 μs. Plasma inductance varied between 3 μH and 1.5 μH while
the plasma resistance varied between 5 m and 300 m within one shot, while
the electron temperature and plasma density near the substrate measured with a
double electric probe was about 3 eV and 2.7 × 1013 cm−3, respectively. Carbon
plasma velocity at the muzzle was 6.0 cm/μs which agrees with calculations. The
deposited graphite powder showed mostly a homogeneous distribution of clusters.
The total efficiency of the system, considering both the internal and kinetic energy,
was found to be 10.9%. |
