Experimental study on consistency of high leakproofness plasma generator

Capillary discharge plasma generator is a key component in electrothermal chemical (ETC) guns, and its performance has a great influence on the ignition process. The working consistency is the basis for optimization of the plasma generator, and it is a necessary premise in realizing the advantages of ETC guns. In order to evaluate and optimize the working consistency, parallel experiments were carried out on a conventional generator with electrical parameters in discharge and jet pressure as the characterization parameters. Results reveal that there are large deviations among parallel tests. Besides, severe ablation and plenty of carbon powder can be found in the generator, indicating that the poor consistency is closely related to the internal breakdown caused by the lack of leakproofness. In order to prevent internal breakdown, a new electrode structure with special section was proposed. Results of evaluation experiments demonstrate that the new design can improve the leakproofness considerably and realize better output consistency compared with the original design.