Floods Can Be Beneficial

An "Ion Flood Fixture" was constructed to permit laboratory electrostatic charging of aerospace components and materials. The fixture provides a current source of positive or negative ions capable of flooding a test sample with electrostatic energy on a repeatable basis. The use of passive dischargers for the current source reduces radio freq­ uency noise generation and provides large currents at low potentials. The fixture includes an infinite impedance electrostatic voltmeter for measurement of stored poten­ tials. An antenna can be installed to obtain radio frequency noise measurements.