Plasma characterization for application in ballistics

Summary form only given. There is currently a strong motivation for improving the existing performance of fielded military gun systems. For that objective, research over the past several years has been carried out in an effort to enhance performance by addition of energy into the gun chamber by way of a plasma generator. This energy addition, referred to as Electro-thermal Chemical (ETC) propulsion, can be readily controlled electrically where it can be used to ignite the chamber´s energetic material, enhance the total energy, and control the interior process through control of the propellant combustion. To realize the potential advantages of this system it is important to characterize the plasma generator in terms of (a) the impedance characteristics and its relationship to the pulse forming network used to generate the plasma, (b) the plasma output energy components such as radiation and convection in both time and space, (c) the details of the hydrodynamic interactions of the plasma with the propelling charge bed in the gun chamber and, (d) the direct effect of the plasma on the propellant reactions. These above characteristics have been studied through plasma modeling (Powell) and experimental studies of plasma characteristics. Pressures and temperatures have been determined to assist in the design of a practical plasma generator system. Additionally, an interior ballistic hydrodynamic code, NGEN, has been used to study the plasma-propellant bed interaction.