Velocity effects on metal armature contact transition (railguns)

Abstract

Both friction and the velocity skin effect have been proposed as potential velocity limiting mechanisms for nonarcing armature contacts. The experimental evidence is that neither has a significant effect, at least up to the 2-km/s regime. The authors examine both friction and the velocity skin effect in the context of the adiabatic contact model. They show that neither mechanism presents a velocity barrier or limit for metal armature contacts.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>