Initial Testing of a Prototype Laser Ignition Chamber

A prototype laser ignition chamber was used to measure the pressure-time behavior of black powder ignited by a continuouswave laser (355 nm). The time to ignition of the black powder using the ultraviolet laser was significantly longer (seconds) than previous studies using near-infrared lasers (milliseconds). A linear relationship between the Mylar diaphragm thickness and the maximum peak pressure was observed. Differences in the behavior of the Mylar blowout disk based on the thicknesses of the individual sheets have also been observed. The original document contains color images.