they do not use ferromagnetic materials such as iron to enhance the magnetic flux. As the magnetic field strengths required for such launches will typically be approximately 10 T, most contemporary railgun designs are effectively 'air-cored', i.e. For single loop railguns, these mission requirements require launch currents of a few million amperes, so a typical railgun power supply might be designed to deliver a launch current of 5 MA for a few milliseconds. Therefore, typical military railgun designs aim for muzzle velocities in the range of 2000–3500 m/s with muzzle energies of 5–50 MJ. Increased muzzle velocities can convey the benefits of increased firing ranges while, in terms of target effects, increased terminal velocities can allow the use of kinetic energy rounds as replacements for explosive shells.

For potential military applications, railguns are usually of interest because they can achieve much greater muzzle velocities than guns powered by conventional chemical propellants. In electric motor terminology, augmented railguns are usually series-wound configurations.Ī railgun requires a pulsed, direct current power supply. A relatively common variant of this configuration is the augmented railgun in which the driving current is channelled through additional pairs of parallel conductors, arranged to increase ('augment') the magnetic field experienced by the moving armature. This configuration is thus a self-excited linear homopolar motor formed by a single loop of current. In its simplest (and most commonly used) form, the railgun differs from a traditional homopolar motor in that no use is made of additional field coils (or permanent magnets). Solid armatures may also 'transition' into hybrid armatures, typically after a particular velocity threshold is exceeded. A hybrid armature uses a pair of 'plasma' contacts to interface a metallic armature to the gun rails. A plasma armature is formed by an arc of ionised gas that is used to push a solid, non-conducting payload in a similar manner to the propellant gas pressure in a conventional gun. Solid, metallic sliding conductors are often the preferred form of railgun armature but 'plasma' or 'hybrid' armatures can also be used. The armature may be an integral part of the projectile, but it may also be configured to accelerate a separate, electrically isolated or non-conducting projectile. 4.3 Trigger for Inertial Confinement Fusion.4.1 Launch or launch assist of spacecraft.

In addition to military applications, railguns have been proposed to launch spacecraft into orbit however, unless the launching track was particularly long, and the acceleration required spread over a much longer time, such launches would necessarily be restricted to unmanned spacecraft.

They gave the project the Latin motto 'Velocitas Eradico', which is Latin for 'I, speed, eradicate', but may have been intended as 'Speed kills' or similar. Navy tested a railgun that accelerates a 3.2 kg (7 pound) projectile to hypersonic velocities of approximately 2.4 kilometres per second (5,400 mph), about. However, in recent years, significant efforts have been made towards their development as feasible military technology. Railguns have long existed as experimental technology but the mass, size and cost of the required power supplies have prevented railguns from becoming practical military weapons. A railgun comprises a pair of parallel conducting rails, along which a sliding armature is accelerated by the electromagnetic effects of a current that flows down one rail, into the armature and then back along the other rail. Ī railgun is an electrically powered electromagnetic projectile launcher based on similar principles to the homopolar motor. Naval Surface Warfare Center test firing in January 2008 Contrary to popular belief the plume formed behind the projectile is of flame, and not plasma.

Towermadness 2 plasma vs railgun