AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF PLASMA ARMATURE RAILGUN PERFORMANCE IN THE 3.2 TO 4.2 KM/S REGIME

Performance losses in a high velocity regime have been well documented for small bore (< 15 mm) plasma armature railguns, but these data are generally unavailable for larger bore railguns. This paper describes a set of experiments in which velocities up to 4.2 km/s were achieved in a midsize gun (51 mm) without discrete secondary arc formation. A figure of merit is described which relates the muzzle velocity to the electrical action applied to the barrel during acceleration. This figure of merit declines from the lower to the higher velocity firings. The comparison of the observed performance to more detailed modeling is described in a companion paper.