The EMET railgun projectile
- Gruy Federal, Inc., Arlington, VA (United States)
This paper reports on the EMET projectile which uses joule heating to accelerate the projectile in a railgun with a predominantly electrothermal driving force. The structure is designed to conduct armature current within a thin annular band around the shank of the large L/D dumbbell-shaped projectile. Current is initiated by a fuse located around the shank, and an impedance of 8 m{Omega} is achieved, compared to the 1-2 m{Omega} observed for EM guns. A supersonic nozzle in the projectile tail section expands and cools the armature plasma to raise its resistivity, prevent secondary arcs and provide additional accelerating thrust. Experimental data is presented for 9.5 mm diameter, 5 gm projectiles, accelerated to nearly 600 m/sec at 55 kA in a 0.9 m railgun. The armature remains confined in the projectile structure, and 75% of the acceleration is provided electrothermally.
- OSTI ID:
- 5751267
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9004136--
- Journal Information:
- IEEE Transactions on Magnetics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States), Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Magnetics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States) Vol. 27:1; ISSN 0018-9464; ISSN IEMGA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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ACCELERATION
ACCELERATORS
ARMATURES
CURRENT DENSITY
DATA
ELECTRIC HEATING
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FLUID FLOW
Fu
Fuels-- (1992)
HEATING
INFORMATION
JOULE HEATING
NOZZLES
NUMERICAL DATA
PLASMA
PLASMA ACCELERATION
PLASMA GUNS
PLASMA HEATING
PROJECTILES
RADIATIONS
RAILGUN ACCELERATORS
RESISTANCE HEATING
SUPERSONIC FLOW
TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS