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This paper presents experimental solutions developed recently at the French-German Research Institute of Saint-Louis (ISL) railgun facility EMA3 (muzzle velocity v0 < 1900 m/s, applied energy per shot Eprim < 0.9 MJ, l = 3 m, cal. = 15 × 30 mm2). New quasi-segmented rail configurations: one ad- vantage of multiple brush armatures is the possibility of developing new armature-rail configurations, which vary the width of the rail as a function of the rail Length in order to maximize the multiple brush armature performance. Improved Doppler radar measurements of the projectile dynamics in the launcher: the overall performance of a Doppler system might be limited by the decrease of the signal-to-noise ratio due to the formation of plasma arcs during the shot. A new approach, circumventing this problem, is presented. Parasitic mass is considered as a key problem of railgun technology in general, and of the use of brush armatures in particular. A new idea using the force behavior of multiple brush armatures is presented. Whereas X-ray flash radiographs provide useful information about the force distribution between multiple brushes, the measurement of the current distribution is. more difficult. A method to measure the latter by benefiting from the discontinuity of the armatures is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the transition of brush armatures by means of the ISL-EMA3 railgun. Effects of metal armatures on railguns; Role of friction and joule heating in the experiment; Phenomenology of transition in multiple brush armatures.