Increase of the Muzzle Velocity of a Railgun Beyond 2500 M/S

Abstract In a previous study on railgun launched projectiles presented at the HVIS 2022, muzzle velocities up to 2100 m/s were achieved. Conical and rod-shaped projectiles were accelerated by means of a 3-m long railgun with a square bore-caliber of 25 mm. Efforts for reaching higher muzzle velocities usually resulted in increased wear and damage of the sliding armature. A typical damage mode of the rails is high-velocity cratering, known as the “gouging” effect. In order to avoid or to significantly reduce this phenomenon, wear resistant metal layers were added on the rail surfaces that are in contact with the sliding armature. A test series performed with the 25 mm railgun, showed that rail wear was drastically reduced under repeated shots, so that the investigation could be focused on a particularly critical railgun component, the armature. In this work, failure of the armature was not observed, but erosion of the trailing arms was significant. The maximum muzzle velocity exceeded 3000 m/s, which will allow projectile impact testing up to Mach 9 at standard atmosphere.