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Propellants based on cross-linked Hydroxy Terminated PolyEther (HTPE) binders are being used as alternatives to Hydroxy Terminated PolyButadiene (HTPB) compositions. HTPE propellants have similar mechanical properties to HTPB propellants but they give a less severe response in ‘slow cook-off’ tests for IM compliance. A literature review is presented on the development and properties of HTPE propellants in an attempt to place them in relation to recent trends in Insensitive Munitions. To gain a better understanding of the behaviour of HTPE propellants an HTPE pre-polymer and a range of binder network samples with different NCO/OH equivalence ratios, with and without plasticizer, have been synthesised and characterised by a range of techniques. The thermal decomposition of the HTPE binder network and propellant samples were also studied. Desmodur N-3200 was used as a curing agent and n-BuNENA as an energetic plasticizer. Similar analyses were performed on analogous HTPB pre-polymer and binder network samples and the results were compared with those obtained for the corresponding HTPE samples. Two kinds of HTPE propellant were manufactured containing HTPE pre-polymer, n-BuNENA, 2NDPA and either AP or AP+PSAN as oxidiser. Also HTPB propellant was prepared. Small cook-off test vehicles (SCTV) were filled with HTPE and HTPB propellants and slow cook-off tests were performed. In contrast to HTPB binders, which become harder during slow heating, it was found that the HTPE binders soften under the same conditions. This behaviour is possibly due to chain scission of the soft and hard segments of the HTPE polymer matrix. Thermooxidative processes and reactions of the energetic plasticizer decomposition products are believed to be the responsible for the scission of the polymeric matrix. From the binder characterisation and slow cook-off results it is concluded that there is a relation between the degree of polymeric matrix scission during slow heating and the violence of the response at the point of self ignition. This underlies the main difference between HTPB and HTPE propellants in slow cook-off. While HTPB compositions become harder and more brittle, HTPE propellants become softer and have a lower surface area at the self ignition point.

Solar thermal propulsion (STP) is the utilisation of concentrated sunlight for heating a propellant to high temperatures. Early STP concepts were envisioned for large spacecraft and capable of high levels of propulsive performance (< 1000s Isp). Currently, at the University of Surrey, STP is being adapted for use on small-spacecraft in order to utilise the high propulsive capability offered by STP and widen the range of small-spacecraft applications. Conventional STP system concepts encounter difficulties in conforming to the low mass and volume requirements of a small- spacecraft platform. An enabling technology for the miniaturisation of an STP system is seen in the advent of low attenuation high numerical aperture (NA) fibre optics. This work investigates the mission and design implications of an STP system augmented with fibre optics and develops new technologies that stem from the concept. A small parabolic dish concentrator was designed to the requirements of a high NA optical fibre and manufactured for component testing. Efficiency tests of the small concentrator demonstrated 83% efficiency and an overall system efficiency of 50% including coupling light into the fibre. A fibre optic heat exchanger was designed, manufactured and tested to investigate methods of improving heat transfer efficiency. Tests of the heat exchanger demonstrated receiver absorption efficiencies of 82%. Stringent solar pointing accuracies imposed by the small concentrator-fibre optic combination resulted in the development and testing of a novel sensor technology that employs fibre optic luminescence as feedback for a concentrator pointing control mechanism. Concentrator pointing accuracies of 3 arc-minutes were experimentally demonstrated. Accompanying this work is the development of a novel algorithm for the study of coupled radiation and conduction heat transfer within participating media, which is more accurate and stable than conventional techniques. This work successfully demonstrated the potential high efficiency and feasibility of a small- spacecraft fibre augmented STP system.

L'étude des phénomènes turbulents se développant en sortie du propulseur de Hall est nécessaire pour pouvoir modéliser le transport anormal (par opposition au transport diffusif) des électrons à travers les lignes de champ magnétique. Les relations de dispersion de deux instabilités pouvant être responsables de ce transport ont été mesurées à des échelles millimétriques à l'aide du diagnostic de diffusion collective de la lumière. Ce travail de thèse s'attache à en donner une description aussi bien théorique qu'expérimentale, pierre à l'édifice de la compréhension du transport dans le propulseur. Une instabilité se propageant majoritairement dans la direction azimutale du propulseur y est caractérisée comme étant l'instabilité de dérive électronique ExB et un modèle analytique décrivant la fréquence expérimentale y est dérivé et validé. De plus, le manuscrit présente une méthode de déconvolution du signal de la diffusion collective de la fonction d'appareil pour ce mode. Une fois déconvoluées, les relations de dispersion expérimentales peuvent être ajustées par la fréquence du modèle analytique, ce qui permet de mesurer expérimentalement et de manière originale la température et la densité électronique dans le jet d'ions énergétiques du plasma du propulseur. Enfin, la seconde instabilité, se développant autour de la direction axiale du propulseur, est caractérisée comme l'instabilité double faisceau entre les ions simplement et doublement chargés du plasma / The study of turbulent phenomena that grow at the exit plane of the Hall thruster is required to modelize the anomalous transport (in contrast to the diffusion transport) of electrons across the magnetic field lines. The dispersion relations of two instabilities that can be responsible for this transport have been mesured at millimetric scales by mean of the collective light scattering diagnostic. The aim of the thesis is to describe them theoretically as well as experimentally, improving the understanding of the Hall thruster transport. In the thesis, an instability that propagates principally azimuthally is caracterized as the ExB electron drift instability and an analytical model that describes the experimental frequency is derived and validated. In addition, the manuscript presents an original method to unfold the signal of the collective scattering diagnostic from the instrumental function of this mode. Once corrected, the experimental dispersion relations can be adjusted by the frequency given by the analytical model, allowing to measure experimentally and in an original way the electron temperature and density in the energetic ion jet of the Hall thruster plasma. The second instability that is mainly propagating in the axial direction is caracterized as the two-stream instability between the simply and doubly charged ions of the plasma

La propulsion électrique est à un tournant de son histoire. La récente mise en oeuvre de satellites de télécommunication "tout-électrique" se traduit par l’ouverture d’un nouveau marché, et par une évolution des besoins opérationnels. L’identification de ces nouvelles missions nécessite l’amélioration des performances de nos moteurs. La première partie de ces travaux rapporte l’utilisation d’un outil de spectroscopie laser destiné à caractériser la distribution en vitesse des ions. Les différentes méthodes de calcul du champ électrique dans les propulseurs de Hall ont été exposées. Deux instabilités ioniques ont été observées et analysées. Les sources d’erreurs liées aux mesures par sondes électrostatiques ont été analysées, et un exemple de sonde plane étudié. Une analyse paramétrique de l’influence des paramètres de champ magnétique sur les performances des propulseurs de Hall a été conduite. Le concept de moteur "sans parois" est présenté. L’identification de ce concept constitue une avancée porteuse de promesses pour l’avenir de la propulsion électrique. / Electric propulsion is facing new challenges. Recently, the launch of "all-electric" satellites has marked the debut of a new era. Going all-electric now appears as an interesting alternative to conventional systems for telecom operators. A laser spectroscopy technique was used during this research to investigate the ion velocity distribution dynamics. The different methods for determining the electric field in Hall thrusters were exposed. Two unstable ion regimes were identified and examined. Measurement uncertainties using electrostatic probes were assessed. Planar probed have been designed and tested. A thorough investigation of the influence of the magnetic field parameters on the performance of Hall thrusters was performed. The wall-less Hall thruster design was presented, and preliminary experiments have revealed its interest for the electric propulsion community.