Electrostatic Fragmentation of Dust Particles in Laboratory

Experimental laboratory work on simulation of the electrostatic fragmentation was started with loosely bound A12O3 particles of 1 to 10 micrometers size. These particles were suspended in an electrodynamic quadrupole inside a vacuum chamber and electrically charged by ion beams of energies up to 5 keV. The electrostatic fragmentation was observed and derived tensile strengths of the particles range from 103 to 105 Pa what is compatible with theoretical estimates. A dependence of the tensile strength on the size of particles has been found. This dependence can be well fitted by inverse square power law.