WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Materials Testing Facility announced the 1,000th successful firing of its Electromagnetic Railgun.
The NRL called the firing a materials testing milestone in the weapon's technological development.
The tests demonstrate continued advances in armature development, rail design and barrel materials used in high-power railgun launch, said Robert Meger, head, NRL's Charged Particle Physics Branch.
"Firing up to 15 shots per week on the laboratory's experimental railgun, researchers at NRL perform detailed testing and analysis of rails and armatures, providing S&T expertise to the Navy program that is directly applicable to tests at large-scale power levels."
The NRL said many of the 1,000 shots taken on the Materials Testing Facility railgun have been designed to test different barrel designs and to quantify damage generated during high-power launch.
A railgun is a form of single turn linear motor. Magnetic fields generated by high currents driven in parallel conductors, rails, accelerate a sliding conductor, known as an armature, between the rails. The velocity generated by the system is limited by rail strength and armature materials and their response to the high currents and extreme pressures generated during launch.
At launch, heat deposited in the armature and near the surface of the rails due to high currents and friction, or viscous heating generated at the sliding interface, leads to temperatures sufficient to melt most metals including the armature material. If the heating and extreme pressures also damage the rail surface, it can destroy the contact surface and condemn the gun barrel.
NRL S&T research has pioneered multiple barrel and armature designs that minimize or mitigate the damage even during successive high-power launches.
First fired in 2007 -- at a magnitude of 0.5 megajoules -- the railgun system at NRL has been modified and enhanced to operate routinely at 1.5 megajoule launch energy.
"A railgun weapons system must be able to launch hundreds of projectiles and withstand extreme pressures, currents and temperatures," said NRL Commanding Officer, Capt. Paul Stewart. "Today's firing of the 1,000th shot demonstrates Navy researchers are steadily progressing toward achieving that goal, developing a more effective and efficient future ship combat system."
