Rail damage in a solid-armature rail gun. Final report
Plasma-arc-drive rail guns operate by forming a high-temperature plasma behind the projectile using a thin metal fuze. These systems achieve the highest projectile velocities (about 12 km /sec), since the driving force includes a substantial plasma pressure as well as the electromagnetic or Lorentz force. Unfortunately, severe rail damage occurs primarily from the intense temperatures generated by the plasma arc and the wiping motion of the armature itself. The solid-armature gun replaces the plasma armature with a conducting metal armature. Since the plasma arcing is reduced or eliminated, the projectiles are accelerated mainly by the Lorentz force. Thus, solid armature rail guns operate at lower projectile velocities. The important tradeoff is that there is a substantial reduction in rail damage for metal armature projectiles. The elimination of the plasma force limits projectile velocities in the metal-armature rail guns. A more-subtle limit is the speed at which the commutation process can take place. Although the latter limit is still not well understood, experimental evidence indicates a commutation limit may occur near 6 to 7 km/sec. This velocity limit is still attractive for Army tactical missions for rail guns. The actual rail damage occurring with two types of metal armatures, wire brush contactors and monolithic metal contactors, and new developments in barrel technology, such as superconducting augmentation, are presented in this report.
- Research Organization:
- Army Armament Research and Development Command, Watervliet, NY (USA). Benet Weapons Lab.
- OSTI ID:
- 6994753
- Report Number(s):
- AD-A-190295/6/XAB; ARCCB-TR-87035
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Rail electrodynamics in a plasma armature railgun
Materials evaluation for use as plasma brush electrodes with hybrid armatures
Related Subjects
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
RAILGUN ACCELERATORS
DESIGN
ARMATURES
AUGMENTATION
DAMAGE
ELECTRIC ARCS
ELECTROMAGNETISM
HIGH TEMPERATURE
LORENTZ FORCE
METALS
MOTION
PROGRESS REPORT
PROJECTILES
SUPERCONDUCTORS
VELOCITY
ACCELERATORS
CURRENTS
DOCUMENT TYPES
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRIC DISCHARGES
ELEMENTS
MAGNETISM
640430* - Fluid Physics- Magnetohydrodynamics
430100 - Particle Accelerators- Design
Development
& Operation