Rail accelerator development for ultra-high pressure research

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is currently developing a rail accelerator system for launching hypervelocity projectiles suitable for ultrahigh pressure shockwave research. The primary goal is to accelerate 1 g projectiles with disk impactors to velocities in excess of 12 km/s and generate uniform, planar shockwaves at pressures above 0.5 TPa (5 Mbar) in metal targets. In order to generate precisely controlled impacts and shockwaves, several stringent requirements are imposed on the railgun system. During the last year, we have begun detailed development of a railgun launcher and power source. We are developing a launcher with a gas injector. The injector accelerates the projectile to more than 1 km/s reducing the dwell time of the plasma arc and the erosion of the rails. The injected projectile, with a fuse, also serves as the main switch in the power supply circuit. Current pulse shaping is used to control the applied stress to the projectile and launcher. Results of experiments with the new system will be reported and compared to computer simulations.