Experimental Study and Damage Analysis of a Magnetic Field-Regulated Enhanced Electromagnetic Launcher

Abstract

Insufficient efficiency and transition ablation are the main problems of current electromagnetic launch device, which affect the launch performance and service life. Due to the structure of the electromagnetic launch device, common speed increasing method usually causes more severe armature-rail ablative damage. In this article, a magnetic field-regulated enhanced electromagnetic launch (EEL) was investigated through experiments, and the ablation of the device was analyzed as well. The magnetic field distribution is controlled through head and tail guidance. Achieved a significant synergistic enhancement in both launch speed and damage reduction. An experimental platform for magnetic field-regulated EEL was set up. Conduct experimental validation of conventional armature and enhanced armatures with rear-end guidance angles of 30° and 45°. Compared to the conventional armature, the speed of the enhanced armature increased by 31.9%. The armature-rail contact surface damage was significantly reduced. A study was conducted on the ablative damage of the armature under high-speed sliding friction. The tail of the conventional armature experienced severe melting, with its length reduced from 19 to 12 mm. There was no significant change in the length of the enhanced armature tails and the damage was significantly reduced. Changes in the armature-rail contact surface are analyzed based on muzzle voltage. Mechanisms for damage reduction under magnetic field regulation units are revealed. At $t =2$ ms, the conventional armature experienced transition, while the enhanced armature showed no obvious transition during its movement.