Electric-gun studies of conductors in high magnetic fields and experiments in dynamic flux compression
The devices we call electric guns operate by discharging a fast capacitor bank through a thin, metallic bridge-foil load. The explosion of the foil and the accompanying magnetic forces acting on the bridge-foil plasma accelerate a thin flyer plate of dielectric material initially placed on top of the bridge foil. In hypervelocity impact studies with the linear electric gun, a thin, flat flyer is punched out of a cover sheet of dielectric (or dielectric/metallic composite) material by the explosion of the bridge foil and accelerated down a short barrel to impact on a target. In the coaxial gun, a cylindrical bridge foil is used to implode a cylindrical dielectric or dielectric/metallic composite (liner) flyer to produce a high peak compression through axial convergence. In this paper we discuss the range of currents, their rate of rise, and the magnetic fields attained by our fast capacitor banks, which supply power to the electric gun to explode the bridge foil. Also included is a brief study of the change of resistance of the bridge-foil element as a function of time for various flyer mass loadings for the linear geometry of the gun. The change in resistance can be viewed as a type of opening switch for pulsed-power applications. We also briefly discuss the predicted performance of the coaxial gun in compressing loads for applications such as acceleration of chunky projectiles, magnetic flux compression, or longer-term applications such as the production of x rays or conditions for inertial fusion. General applications of the electric gun to shock-wave and impact studies are described elsewhere. 6 refs., 5 figs.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/DP
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 5727718
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-100323; CONF-890710-20; ON: DE90000815
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 5. international conference on megagauss magnetic field generation and related topics, Novosibirsk (USSR), 3-7 Jul 1989
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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