Post-shot analysis of plasma/rail interaction in a small bore load driving EML

Kolawole, J.; Frierson, R.V.; Clothiaux, E. J.; Gooden, Clarence E.

doi:10.1109/20.101027

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 2 publications

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“…The copper rail and aluminum armature surfaces were polished to a two micron smoothness before coating by using the diamond point polishing technique developed by the Fermlmatic, Inc. of Totowa, NJ. The 0.6m long, 10 mm, square bore, Plasma Utility Gun (PUG) [7] railgun at Eglin Air Force Base was used for the coated raiYarmature tests.…”

Section: Experimental Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of coatings for electromagnetic gun technology

et al. 1995

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Section: Experimental Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of coatings for electromagnetic gun technology

et al. 1995

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Comparative study of component erosion for electromagnetic and electrothermal launchers

et al. 1993

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A bstroct-The electrothermal launcher SIRENS has been used to study the erosion of critical components (rails and insulators) of plasma-driven launchers. SIRENS, can produce high-density (> 1025/m3) low-temperature (1-3 eV) plasma, formed by the ablation of the insulator (Lexan), with currents up to 100 kA. The incident heat flux varies between 2 to 90 GW/m2 over 100 psec duration, for input energies 1-10 kJ. Erosion studies have been performed on several insulators, pure and coated metals, alloys and several graphite grades. The fraction of the total incident energy that is transmitted to the eroded surface varies from 12-30% for the materials tested and decreases to 5-796 as the incident energy fluence increases. Such reduction in erosion for a given incident fluence is due to the vapor shield effect. The scaling law for the energy transmission factor through the vapor shield layer was obtained lor the exposed materlals.

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Review of component erosion in electric launcher technology

Bourham

Gilligan

Huebschman³

et al. 1995

IEEE Trans. Magn.

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Component e r o s i o n i n electric launcher t e c h n o l o g y( e l e c t r o m a g n e t i c EM. electrothermal ET and electrothermal-chemical ETC) plays a major role, which determines the launcher's bore lifetime, launch velocity and operational limits. The heat flux generated by the in-bore plasma leads to surface erosion because its value may exceed 100 GW/m2 over 0.1-5 ms p u l s e duration. Surface and bulk deformations will alter the mechanical properties of the launcher critical components degrading the internal ballistics and the overall performance of the launcher. A blackbody model may be sufficient to describe the heat fluxes produced by dense (1025-1026 m-3) lowtemperature(1-3eV) plasma armatures. o r electrothermal plasmas. The boundary layer (vapor shield) plasma is 'thick' to the incoming particles. Once the energy has been deposited in the boundary layer then low energy photon transport becomes the dominant mechanism by which energy is transferred to the material surface. The boundary layer thickness increases with the continuous injection of ablated material, which reduces the temperature of the boundary layer and results in less heat to the surface. Erosion studies have been conducted on the electrothermal launcher SIRENS, which simulates expected operational conditions of high heat flux deposition in electric launchers. Various material surfaces have been exposed to SIRENS plasma to test their performance, erosion behavior a n d lifetime. Tested materials are pure metals, alloys, refractory materials, specially-coated materials, insulators and composites, pure and composite graphites. Results showed that coating reduces erosion. Tungsten-based alloys have no observable erosion. Vapor shield phenomena h a s been characterized for different materials, and the energy transmission factor through the vapor s h i e l d i n g layer is obtained.

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Post-shot analysis of plasma/rail interaction in a small bore load driving EML

Cited by 4 publications

References 2 publications

Application of coatings for electromagnetic gun technology

Application of coatings for electromagnetic gun technology

Comparative study of component erosion for electromagnetic and electrothermal launchers

Review of component erosion in electric launcher technology

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