Design and Characterization of Nozzles and Solid Propellants for IR Laser Propulsion

C. A. RINALDI; BOGGIO, NORBERTO G; AZCÁRATE, M. LAURA; CODNIA, JORGE; CINTHYA TORO; GÓMEZ, NICOLÁS DAMIÁN ; MONGES,CÉSAR GABRIEL

APPLIED PHYSICS. A - MATERIALS SCIENCE AND PROCESSING

SPRINGER

Año: 2014 vol. 117 p. 43 - 47

0947-8396

In this article we present an experimental study of the effect of conical section nozzles coupled to solid targets on laser ablation propulsion. The impulse produced on the target by laser ablation was measured in terms of the coupling  coefficient Cm by using a piezoelectric (PZT) sensor. The maximum of the first semi-period of the PZT signal was used as an estimator of the transferred impulse. The ablation was performed with a TEA CO2  laser at room temperature and atmospheric pressure.  The targets were pellets of two metal/salt (Zn/CaCO3) concentration ratios: 90/10%w/w and 70/30%w/w. Aluminum nozzles with conical section were coupled to these propellant pellets. A comparative study of the variation of C musing nozzles of  different inlet and outlet diameters of the ejected material as well as of different heights was made. The results demonstrate that for the two pellets´ compositions analyzed, as the nozzle´s height increases and its diameter decreases improvements up to 250% respect to  the target without nozzle are obtained. These are promising results for the potential development of laser ablation microthrusters.