New LANL gas driven two-stage gun

Conference · Sun Jul 10 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States)

OSTI ID:7146941

Martinez, A R; Sheffied, S A; Whitehead, M C; Olivas, H D; Dick, J J ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Group M-7, MS P952, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)

A new compressed-helium driven two-stage light gas gun has been installed at LANL to study shock initiated reaction in insensitive high explosives. The gun (based on a design at Ernst Mach Institute) has a 100-mm diameter by 7.6 long pump tube and a 50-mm diameter by 7.6-m long launch tube. The gas breech, capable of pressures up to 15,000 psi, has a volume of 42.5 liters and can be used in either a wrap-around or double-diaphragm mode. This breech was designed so we could use helium rather than powder combustion gases to drive the pump piston, eliminating the safety and cleanup problems assoicated with gun powder. Large hydraulic clamps (pressurized to 10,000 psi) are used to clamp the breech to the pump tube, the pump tube to the transition section, and the transition section to the launch tube. The target chamber was designed to allow the necessary room to do multiple magnetic gauging experiments. Gun control is accomplished using a MAC computer and LabVIEW control software. [copyright]American Institute of Physics

• OSTI ID: 7146941
• Report Number(s): CONF-921145--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States) Journal Volume: 309:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
450100* -- Military Technology
Weaponry
& National Defense-- Chemical Explosions & Explosives
CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES
DESIGN
DETONATIONS
EXPLOSIVES
GUNS
IMPACT SHOCK
LAWRENCE LIVERMORE LABORATORY
LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
TEST FACILITIES
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
VERY HIGH PRESSURE