Erik Wemlinger

Acetylene Deposition Using Atmospheric Pressure Weakly Ionized Plasma

Atmosphere pressure weakly ionized plasma has been utilized to polymerize gas phase acetylene in a needle-to-plane electrode configuration. The approach used in this research is novel as it did not rely on complicated power supplies or expensive materials and it results in a needle-to-ground geometry. The activated acetylene molecules in an argon environment were deposited onto a substrate to grow thin plasma-polymerized acetylene films. Using independent methods, a deposition rate between 2.2 and 23 nm/s was measured when an average free electron power of 94 mW was used.

Sympathetic Current Pulses in Atmospheric Pressure Weakly Ionized Acetylene/Argon Plasma

It has been observed that current pulses in corona-based atmospheric-pressure weakly ionized plasma can be synchronized between needles, dependent on the gap between the needles. This observation was made via a series of experiments utilizing a statistically significant number of current pulses at varying spacing between needles.

Estimation of the shock to detonation region inside an energetic material

A series of six tests were conducted investigating the shock-to-detonation transition (SDT) in cylindrical samples of HE with a wax binder. A 40 mm powder gun was used to launch spherical steel fragments at a mean velocity of 1519 m/s into the HE. For each test 9 piezoelectric pins were placed just below the surface of the HE and situated to form a plane that bisects the HE sample. The pins were positioned such that 8 were along the side of the cylinder with the 9th pin opposite the impact location of the cylinder. The 9 pins were used to record the detonation wave time of arrival (TOA). Using the piezoelectric pin TOA a basic kinematic equation can be written for the velocity between the start of the detonation wave and the TOA at the pin. A system of 4 equations is used to solve for the location in the plane, the velocity, and time when the detonation wave initiated. This approach was used for each unique combination of piezoelectric pins to estimate a region where the SDT transition occurred.

Adjacent needle streamer synchronicity in argon-acetylene atmospheric pressure weakly ionized plasma

Summary form only given. Atmospheric pressure weakly ionized plasma (APWIP) is utilized at Washington State University to explore plasma-polymerized film deposition. Gas composition greatly affects the streamer properties. Here we present research into the correlation between needle streamers for an argon acetylene environment.