Explosive-magnetic generators as power sources for railgun accelerators of solid projectiles

As the result of the conducted investigation within the framework of an electrotechnical model, requirements were set up for explosive-magnetic generators intended for use as energy sources for railgun accelerators of solid projectiles. The dependence of the generator inductance on the coordinates was determined such as to provide constant acceleration motion. Construction was completed on single and three-element plane MK generators which are able to provide this acceleration regime. Promising prospects were demonstrated for the use of multielement busbar and coaxial EMG's for supplying energy to railgun accelerators. The feasibility of the use in EMG of explosives having small detonation velocity was demonstrated. In the experiments involving the acceleration of solid projectiles in a 0.8-m-long railgun acćelerator velocities of 5 km/sec were attained with a projectile whose mass was 1.2–1.3 g. The acceleration of the projectile to higher velocities depends above all on increasing the scale of the experimental (railgun length, current density and the duration of the electric impulse), but in addition to that, on the selection of the material for the electrodes of the projectile being accelerated, and on the evacuation of the channel.