Measurements of experimental plasma brush behavior in hybrid armatures

Conference · Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:10162238

Hawke, R S; Morrison, J J; Susoeff, A R

Hybrid Armatures used in railguns, consist of a conducting link which is commutated to the rails by plasma brushes. The formation, properties and stability of plasma brushes is important to the performance of the armature. This paper describes a set of experiments in which the effects of varying plasma brush parameters including the initial mass of metal foil used to form the plasma as well as the current were studied. The evolution of the plasma brush from a solid metal foil through its melt, vapor and plasma phase were observed. The resulting brush length and voltage drop were measured. The results of these tests will be presented, discussed and compared to numerical simulations.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: Department of Defense, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 10162238
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JC-110265; CONF-9204102-10; ON: DE93014993
• Resource Relation: Conference: 6. symposium on electromagnetic launch technology,Austin, TX (United States),28-30 Apr 1992; Other Information: PBD: Apr 1992
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
RAILGUN ACCELERATORS
PLASMA JETS
ARMATURES
MOTION
PERFORMANCE
420200
FACILITIES, EQUIPMENT, AND TECHNIQUES