The design and testing of a novel electric gun: A pulsed power hypervelocity flyer launcher.

The electric gun is a pulsed power projectile launcher, which utilizes the rapid expansion of an ohmically heated exploding foil to accelerate thin flyers up to 20 km/s. Though the launcher has the potential to access a largely unexplored thermodynamic space, the process of launching flyers above 0.25 mm thickness in this manner is highly variable, often resulting in uncontrolled launch characteristics and premature failure of the flyer. This behavior is challenging to diagnose experimentally, limiting the validation of numerical models and leaving uncertainties in material properties unresolved. This work presents the modelling, design, and experimental testing of a high energy electric gun load, utilizing a 1.2 MJ capacitor bank. Preliminary results reveal the successful launch of a 1.5 mm thick polymer flyer into a PMMA target block, generating impact pressures of 80 GPa. This advancement marks a stepping-stone towards optimising the electric gun to achieve even higher pressures and shock durations, enabling it to become a complimentary tool to existing projectile launch platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]