On the nature of the armature-rail interface: liquid metal effects

A viscoplastic model of expanding cylindrical shells subjected to internal explosive detonations

“…During the 1 9 8 0 '~~ research in the area of rail guns became popular as scientists continued to look at hypervelocity accelerators. This work is continuing at the University of Texas (Persad et al, 1997) and at other research institutions around the world. In a recent report by Trucano and Chhabildas, (1995), it was recognized that preventing the fracture and failure of the flier plates which are subjected to extraordinary accelerations is crucial to the functionality of the machine.…”

Materials characterization of railgun erosion phenomena

“…Rail damage in railgun systems employing a variety of conductive alloys has been studied by Gee and Persad [7] while Tzeng [8] and Meger [9] have recently summarized railgun material and mechanics research. Related effects such as gauging of rails, armature wear, and liquid metal effects have also been examined [10][11][12][13].…”

A High Reliability 3D Scanning Measurement of the Complex Shape Rail Surface of the Electromagnetic Launcher

“…As the armature moves in the bore, the rails experience high electrical current densities, large electromagnetic loads, and high sliding velocities, which can cause friction and electrical heating. These conditions may cause the inner bore surface to become complex; some are shown in Figure 1, including gouging (see Figure 1a) [2] and deposition (see Figure 1b) [3,4]. In addition, these forms of rail degradation have been detrimental to the rails [5], which can not only shorten the rails' lifetime but also affect the interior ballistic performance.…”