Chapter 1289 Plasma Stealth

Although both air-breathing and gliding hypersonic missiles have not yet entered the actual design stage, in the early demonstration and simulation tests of the verification missiles, the high-energy particle flow used to offset the plasma sheath and reduce temperature and drag is carried by the flying body itself.

An order of magnitude increase in intensity is equivalent to an order of magnitude increase in the efficiency of ion generation.

Whether using special self-sweating surface materials like the verification bullet, or directly carrying and atomizing the ionic liquid like the wind tunnel model in front of us, it is difficult to achieve this somewhat exaggerated goal.

However, Chang Haonan looked normal:

"In the current testing phase, we are temporarily using a higher concentration of ionic liquid and a larger injection dose to achieve this. This is also the most efficient way and basically does not require any changes to the existing testing hardware."

The high-energy ion flow generator in the wind tunnel is, in principle, a water pipe connected to an atomization device. Since there is no need to consider storage issues, as long as the valve opening and the atomization intensity are increased, you can almost get as much as you want.

Really no changes are needed.

The next set of tests can even be done two hours later.

Obviously, Chang Haonan had already prepared for the current situation.

But Xing Muchun still felt a little unsure:

"The live ammunition..."

"Of course, this method is impossible to use on live ammunition... The full-range flight time of an air-breathing hypersonic missile is about 15 minutes. If we rely entirely on ion liquid atomization to provide the particle source, the total amount of liquid consumed will be at least several hundred kilograms. Unless the warhead is completely dismantled, there will be no sufficient load and space."

Chang Haonan put his hands behind his back, stroked his chin and thought about something, and replied:

"My current plan is to continue using self-sweating cooling materials similar to those used on the surface of the verification missile... However, in addition to cooling and reducing drag, there is now an additional requirement to weaken the plasma sheath, so the sweating material must be changed. It needs to be able to ionize at a temperature of about 5000K and under certain external conditions to generate plasma that meets our requirements."

"On the other hand, some liquid or gas is also needed, but its main function is not to serve as an ion source, but to guide the flow of externally generated plasma and improve the accuracy of sheath attenuation. It would be best if it could be like the frequency selective surface of a fighter radome, which can specifically transmit radar waves with a certain frequency characteristic, rather than indiscriminately transmitting all electromagnetic signals within a certain frequency band."

"..."

"..."

Even considering that the person who proposed it was Chang Haonan, this idea was indeed a bit too exaggerated, so much so that the twenty or so technicians around, including Xing Muchun, all looked stunned like puppets after hearing it.

After a long while, Jiang Zonglin gradually came back to his senses, and asked while stroking his chest:

"There are quite a few materials that can be ionized at 5000K, but those that can also be used as coatings... I'm afraid they're not easy to find, right?"

Chang Haonan nodded:

"So I just said that a certain external environment is needed... Based on past research and basic physics theory, dielectric barrier discharge technology combined with high-energy radio frequency electrodes has the potential to achieve this requirement."

The so-called dielectric barrier discharge is when there is a potential difference between two conductors at different potentials and deployed on the surface of insulating materials, discharge occurs through tiny defects on the insulating material. Ideally, a large number of micro-discharge channels can even be generated at normal temperature and pressure.

Although the working life is very short, often only counted in minutes, even a gliding hypersonic missile with a range of tens of thousands of kilometers will only fly for about an hour at most, and the time required for the guidance radar to work is even shorter, so it is not an unacceptable defect.

"In addition, considering the working characteristics of the scramjet engine, the simpler combustion jet technology can actually be used on hypersonic missiles. The only problem is that the plasma source generated by this technology can only be set near the tail of the flying body, and it is also open, so it is difficult to evenly transition to the head position..."

Upon hearing this, Xing Muchun, the deputy chief engineer, had already begun thinking about which relevant units he should contact in advance after returning to ensure the smooth implementation of Chang Haonan's R&D plan.

The Electronic Technology Group is definitely indispensable, and considering the particularity of the plasma generation process, I am afraid we will have to deal with the nuclear industry...

Fortunately, the hypersonic project can now be said to be the number one military project. Coupled with the influence of Chang Haonan's name itself, it may not encounter too much resistance.

When I think about it carefully, I’m actually a little excited.

Although Lao Xing had participated in the development of several key rocket models before, he had never had the experience of mobilizing most of the national defense industry system...

Compared to Xing Muchun, who has already started to consider the next specific work, Jiang Zonglin, who is only responsible for wind tunnel testing, does not need to consider so much.

But precisely because of this, there is more opportunity to let your thoughts fly.

"and many more……"

A flash of inspiration flashed through his mind.

This technology...if it is not used to weaken the plasma sheath, but to actively stimulate plasma on the surface of the aircraft, can it achieve a certain stealth effect?

The moment this idea popped into his mind, Jiang Zongli even saw the National Science and Technology Progress Award and the title of academician waving at him.

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From an objective perspective, the Institute of Mechanics is absolutely capable of carrying out relevant research.

If we can produce some results by then, even if the fundamental technology is still proposed by Chang Haonan, innovation in the application field is still innovation...

However, before he could figure out whether or not to speak out this idea, he heard Chang Haonan, who had just taken a sip of water, continue:

"In fact, this technology can also be applied to ordinary aircraft or spacecraft to achieve partial stealth effects..."

Comrade Lao Jiang, who was immersed in his dream, froze completely.

Well, it turns out that people have thought about it a long time ago.

"Then...should we contact our comrades in the aviation industry?"

"Don't rush this yet."

Chang Haonan waved his hand:

"Hypersonic vehicles generate a plasma sheath by themselves. We only need to weaken this naturally formed sheath in a specific location and in a specific way, and we only need to weaken it for a very short time window. This is already difficult to achieve."

"Plasma stealth is to directly form a uniform and complete plasma layer on the normal surface... Although it is feasible from a theoretical point of view, if we want to form an application plan, we still have to wait until the next step of research is completed and more data is accumulated before considering it..."

At this point, he suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, and then changed the subject:

"Forget it, it's a bit too far-fetched to think about these things now. Let's prepare for the next round of wind tunnel testing to see if we can achieve the results we want..."