Experimental Results From Pseudoliquid Armatures Launched by Two-Turn Railgun

The pseudoliquid (PSL) armature with air spring is a novel railgun armature which has been fired successfully many times in a simple railgun by a united research group led by Beijing Institute of Special Electromechanical Technology (BISET), and the results of these experiments show that this armature can prevent transition in some conditions. Multiple turns in a railgun can significantly increase the inductance gradient of the launcher and decrease the needed current. Therefore, BISET initiated a program to launch projectiles with PSL armatures by a two-turn railgun. This paper presents an overview of this program, including the pulsed-power supply, a two-turn rail launcher, projectiles, and some experimental results. Further experimental studies are being continued.