The effect of serrated bore surfaces on plasma armatures

The use of serrated bore surface has the potential to overcome the velocity performance limitations of railgun plasma armatures. The authors evaluated several serrated bore configurations to determine their effect on plasma armature length, stability and velocity performance. They found that plasma armature length and stability are significantly influenced by bore serrations. Plasma armatures in serrated rail-serrated insulator bores are very compact and stable. Many small serrations in the rail also cause compact armatures. These micro serrations gave extremely stable armatures that were highly repeatable. The authors were unable to demonstrate the effect of serrated bores on plasma armature velocity performance.<>