Summary of a decade of railgun development for high-pressure research.

摘要

For several decades the kinetic energy of fast-moving projectiles and plates (flat and cylindrical) has been used to compress and heat matter and to compress magnetic fields. During this period the achievement of higher velocities has extended the accessible range of research to faster shockwaves, higher shockwave and isentropic pressures, higher material densities, more intense magnetic fields, etc. At present the fastest laboratory-size projectile accelerator is the two-stage light-gas gun (2SLGG), which accelerates projectiles to speeds between 8 and 9 km/s. Interest in electromagnetic launchers (EML) in general, and in railguns (RG) in particular, has been motivated partly by the desire to reach even higher velocities. In this paper we briefly report on the status of railgun development, describe problems in attaining hypervelocities, and report on the STARFIRE project, jointly undertaken by Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque (SNLA) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). 17 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab.