Post-shot analysis of plasma/rail interaction in a small bore load driving EML
Abstract
The dynamics of an aluminum plasma structure in a small-bore railgun have been characterized using SEM and AES (depth profiling and X-ray spectroscopy) techniques on rail samples exposed to a single passage of a plasma armature driving a load. These analyses suggest the existence of a thick layer of armature material (aluminum in this case) on all segments of the exposed rail surface with composition varying from pure metallic at the breech and oxidized aluminum in other areas. The implications of the oxidized layer to railgun operation are yet to be established. However, the presence of oxidized aluminum on the rail surface would modify both the thermal and electrical characteristics of the rail surface in ways that degrade the performance of plasma armatures and may have implications for armature instability and the evolution of secondary arcs.
- Publication:
-
IEEE Transactions on Magnetics
- Pub Date:
- January 1991
- DOI:
- 10.1109/20.101027
- Bibcode:
- 1991ITM....27..212C
- Keywords:
-
- Armatures;
- Boreholes;
- Electromagnetic Acceleration;
- Plasma Interactions;
- Plasma Jets;
- Railgun Accelerators;
- Aluminum;
- Eddy Currents;
- Electron Energy;
- Plasma Density;
- Plasma Guns;
- Quantitative Analysis;
- Plasma Physics