New Stick-Slip Tests of the Mach Effect Gravitational Assist (MEGA) Drive*

The MEGA drive is an innovative design for an electric propellant–less propulsion system. The drive consists of a lead zironate titanate transducer compressed between an aluminum mass and a larger brass reaction mass. The gravitational mechanism for force production is described in Woodward [1]. Force measurements are performed using a torsional balance, where a beam displacement is used to calculate the force. In this paper we wish to present  new results, where we have eliminated any stick–slip effect present in the thread and screws which could be responsible for giving a false positive force result for the drive. It is possible that stick–slip, in the mixed lubrication regime, may be present in the 12 screws, holding the PZT stack to the brass reaction mass and securing the brass to the L bracket. The procedure will be as follows:

(1) Run one MEGA device to get standard data for comparison.
(2) Clean the brass mass threads by immersion into Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK), to remove any oil and particulates and also use similarly cleaned, stainless steel bolts.
(3) Apply Loctite-red to all threads and reconstruct the stack.
(4) Compare the results obtained with and without the Loctite-red applied to the screws.