Model for Predicting the Liftetime of a Hall Effect Thruster

Erosion of the acceleration channel is the main lifetime limiting factor for Hall Effect Thrusters (HETs). Impacting ions damage the wall insulation that protects the magnetic circuitry from the plasma. To improve HET technology, it is necessary to simulate plasma behavior inside the channel, and associated erosion rates. This work presents a 2-dimensional Particle-in-Cell model, developed to predict channel wall erosion in Hall thrusters, using an SPT-100 as reference thruster, and providing estimations in good agreement with experimental values. The model allows for evaluation of different erosion mechanisms, both combined as individually. From different simulation results, erosion due to the sheath conditions has proven to be the dominant source for wall erosion