Chemically vapor deposited materials for railguns

The most commonly used material for the current carrying elements in a railgun barrel is copper because of its excellent electrical properties. Tests have shown that copper cannot withstand the harsh environment of railgun bores without severe deterioration. Ultramet and CEM-UT conducted a joint program to evaluate refractory metal coatings, deposited by chemical vapor deposition onto copper substrates, under arc test simulation. The materials investigated were tungsten and tungsten/rhenium alloys. The results showed that these materials are substantially better than bare copper and that an optimum exists with regard to the deposition parameters and coating thickness.