Tandem hybrid/plasma armature performance
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- EG and G, Inc., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Railgun acceleration performance has been observed to decrease as projectile velocities exceed 4km/s. The performance loss has been attributed to several possible causes. In an attempt to study and improve performance, a joint SNL/LLNL project (STARFIRE) employed a two stage light-gas gun (2SLGG) injector, extensive diagnostics and emphased projectile development. The 2SLGG injector enabled us to study armature behavior at high velocity. Extensive diagnostics provided detailed measurements of behavior at high velocity armature performance. We developed a new projectile concept which mitigated the frequently observed loss of performance. This was accomplished by feeding metal vapor from the projectile into the plasma armature thereby maintaining a high conductivity region at the front of the armature and enabling the current density to remain high in this region. With this technique, we achieved nearly ideal performance up to a velocity of 6.7km/s.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States); Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48; AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 10169113
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JC-112200; CONF-921133-20; ON: DE93015977
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 6. international conference on megagauss magnetic field generation and related topics,Albuquerque, NM (United States),9-12 Nov 1992; Other Information: PBD: Nov 1992
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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