Projectile launching by an electrothermal gun

Studies different ways of getting hypervelocities. Among them is the electrothermal gun, in which an electrically heated gas produces the pressure forces. The authors describe the facility, including a capacitor bank, a fast switch and a 9 mm gun. Projectiles of several grams were launched, and velocities up to 2 kms were reached with an efficiency over 35%. A theoretical approach using simplified models is reported