A 60 cm long, 6 mm square bore railgun has recently been developed in pursuance of the impact fusion and related studies. Nylon projectiles (with 0.1–0.3 g mass), successfully accelerated using ∼ 1 mm thick aluminum/copper metallic armatures, are recovered with front surface quite intact but slightly damaged on the back side. In the initial experiments so far, the final velocity of projectiles has been determined simply from their impact onto solid blocks and measuring the consequent displacement. The velocities of 0.2–0.5km/s so estimated, are generally in agreementwith the results expected on the basis of a simple zero-dimensional numerical simulation of the capacitor-bank driven railguns. Techniques to accurately monitor thein-boreandfinalprojectile velocities are being tested and implemented. A maximum velocity of ∼ 2 km/s for 0.5 g mass projectiles is expected after certain improvements in the system parameters.
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