Pulse power system characterization of the plasma interactions with propellants experiment (PIPE) electrothermal plasma gun

The plasma interactions with propellants experiment (PIPE) facility is designed for the study of materials and propellants exposed to a pulsed, high-heat flux plasma produced with an electrothermal plasma gun. PIPE is powered by a single 340-/spl mu/F capacitor with a maximum charging voltage of 10 kV, for a maximum discharge energy of 17 kJ. This paper describes discharge voltage and current measurements made with a high-frequency compensated voltage divider and a Pearson coil. For these experiments, the gun was operated in air at 2 torr at discharge energies between 1.1-8.1 kJ. The maximum current ranged between 10-45 kA. The maximum gun power ranged between 30-160 MW. Typical discharge durations were on the order of 100 /spl mu/s.