Carbon nanotubes have shown promise for applications in many diverse areas of technology. In this report we describe our efforts to develop high-current cathodes from a variety of nanotubes deposited under a variety of conditions. Our goal was to develop a one-inch-diameter cathode capable of emitting 10 amperes of electron current for one second with an applied potential of 50 kV. This combination of current and pulse duration significantly exceeds previously reported nanotube-cathode performance. This project was planned for two years duration. In the first year, we tested the electron-emission characteristics of nanotube arrays fabricated under a variety of conditions. In the second year, we planned to select the best processing conditions, to fabricate larger cathode samples, and to test them on a high-power relativistic electron beam generator. In the first year, much effort was made to control nanotube arrays in terms of nanotube diameter and average spacing apart. When the project began, we believed that nanotubes approximately 10 nm in diameter would yield sufficient electron emission properties, based on the work of others in the field. Therefore, much of our focus was placed on measured field emission from such nanotubes grown on a variety of metallized surfaces and with varying average spacing between individual nanotubes. We easily reproduced the field emission properties typically measured by others from multi-wall carbon nanotube arrays. Interestingly, we did this without having the helpful vertical alignment to enhance emission; our nanotubes were randomly oriented. The good emission was most likely possible due to the improved crystallinity, and therefore, electrical conductivity, of our nanotubes compared to those in the literature. However, toward the end of the project, we learned that while these 10-nm-diameter CNTs had superior crystalline structure to the work of others studying field emission from multi-wall CNT arrays, these nanotubes still had a thin coating of glassy carbon surrounding them in a sheath-like manner. This glassy carbon, or nano-crystalline graphite, is likely to be a poor conductor due to phonon scattering, and should actually be deleterious for extracting electrons with electric fields. While we did not achieve the field emission reported for single-wall carbon nanotubes that spurred the idea for this project, at the year's very end, we had a breakthrough in materials growth and learned to control the growth of very-small diameter nanotubes ranging from 1.4 to 7 nm. The 1.4-nm nanotubes are single-walled and grow at only 530 C. This is the lowest temperature known to result in single-wall carbon nanotubes, and may be very important for many applications that where certain substrates could not be used due to the high temperatures commonly used for CNT growth. Critically important for field emission, these small diameter nanotubes, consisting of only a few concentric graphene cylindrical walls, do not show the presence of a poorly-conductive sheath material. Therefore, these nanotubes will almost definitely have superior field emission properties to those we already measured, and it is possible that they could provide the necessary field emission to make this project successful. Controlled spacing and lengths of these single-wall nanotubes have yet to be explored, along with correlating their structures to their improved field emission. Unfortunately, we did not discover the methods to grow these highly-crystalline and small diameter CNTs until late in the year. Since we did not achieve the necessary emission properties by mid-year, the project was ''prematurely'' terminated prior to the start of the second year. However, it should be noted that with the late developments, this work has not hit the proverbial ''brick wall''. Clearly the potential still exists to reproduce and even exceed the high emission results reported for randomly-oriented and curly single-wall carbon nanotubes, both in terms of total field emitting currents and perhaps more importantly, in reproducibility.
Pulsed Arrested Spark Discharge (PASD) is a Sandia National Laboratories Patented, non-destructive wiring system diagnostic that has been developed to detect defects in aging wiring systems in the commercial aircraft fleet. PASD was previously demonstrated on relatively controlled geometry wiring such as coaxial cables and shielded twisted-pair wiring through a contract with the U.S. navy and is discussed in a Sandia National Laboratories report, SAND2001-3225 ''Pulsed Arrested Spark Discharge (PASD) Diagnostic Technique for the Location of Defects in Aging Wiring Systems''. This report describes an expansion of earlier work by applying the PASD technique to unshielded twisted-pair and discrete wire configurations commonly found in commercial aircraft. This wiring is characterized by higher impedances as well as relatively non-uniform impedance profiles that have been found to be challenging for existing aircraft wiring diagnostics. Under a three year contract let by the Federal Aviation Administration, Interagency Agreement DTFA-03-00X90019, this technology was further developed for application on aging commercial aircraft wiring systems. This report describes results of the FAA program with discussion of previous work conducted under U.S. Department of Defense funding.
Sandia national laboratories (SNL) and lockheed martin MS2 are designing an electromagnetic missile launcher (EMML) for naval applications. The EMML uses an induction coilgun topology with the requirement of launching a 3600 lb. missile up to a velocity of 40 m/s. To demonstrate the feasibility of the electromagnetic propulsion design, a demonstrator launcher was built that consists of approximately 10% of the propulsion coils needed for a tactical design. The demonstrator verified the design by launching a 1430 lb weighted sled to a height of 24 ft in mid-December 2004 (Figure 1). This paper provides the general launcher design, specific pulsed power system component details, system operation, and demonstration results.
The Radiatively Driven Hypersonic Wind Tunnel (RDHWT) program requires an unprecedented 2-3 MeV electron beam energy source at an average beam power of approximately 200MW. This system injects energy downstream of a conventional supersonic air nozzle to minimize plenum temperature requirements for duplicating flight conditions above Mach 8 for long run-times. Direct-current electron accelerator technology is being developed to meet the objectives of a radiatively driven Mach 12 wind tunnel with a free stream dynamic pressure q=2000 psf. Due to the nature of research and industrial applications, there has never been a requirement for a single accelerator module with an output power exceeding approximately 500 kW. Although a 200MW module is a two-order of magnitude extrapolation from demonstrated power levels, the scaling of accelerator components to this level appears feasible. Accelerator system concepts are rapidly maturing and a clear technology development path has been established. Additionally, energy addition experiments have been conducted up to 800 kW into a supersonic airflow. This paper will discuss progress in the development of electron beam accelerator technology as an energy addition source for the RDHWT program and results of electron beam energy addition experiments conducted at Sandia National Laboratories.
The potential of a new cable diagnostic known as Pulse-Arrested Spark Discharge technique (PASD) is being studied. Previous reports have documented the capability of the technique to locate cable failures using a short high voltage pulse. This report will investigate the impact of PASD on the sample under test. In this report, two different energy deposition experiments are discussed. These experiments include the PASD pulse ({approx}6 mJ) and a high energy discharge ({approx}600 mJ) produced from a charged capacitor source. The high energy experiment is used to inflict detectable damage upon the insulators and to make comparisons with the effects of the low energy PASD pulse. Insulator breakdown voltage strength before and after application of the PASD pulse and high energy discharges are compared. Results indicate that the PASD technique does not appear to degrade the breakdown strength of the insulator or to produce visible damage. However, testing of the additional materials, including connector insulators, may be warranted to verify PASDs non-destructive nature across the full spectrum of insulators used in commercial aircraft wiring systems.