Operational behavior and application regime assessment of the magnetic acceleration plasma facility IMAX

Design, operation and application of pulsed magnetoplasmadynamic self-field accelerators are described and the facility IMAX (Institut für Raumfahrtsysteme der Universität Stuttgart (IRS), Magnetoplasmadynamic Accelerator-Experiment), is considered in further detail on the basis of an experimental reference condition at a capacitor bank load voltage of 12 kV and an ambient air pressure of 10−3 Pa. This high power coaxial accelerator has been investigated for space propulsion and for terrestrial plasma processes in particular for metal treatment. Lessons learnt from the operation of the facility and its potentially dangerous functional behavior are discussed. Its operational sensitivities are depicted by numerical analysis using an advanced snowplow model. The analysis shows consistency with previously reported experimental results.