Railgun hybrid armatures, experimental results and performance characteristics

Six hybrid armature designs were evaluated in the UTSI one-centimeter square-bore railgun. Advanced diagnostic instrumentation was used to determine the characteristics of hybrid armatures which include a compound armature (current in plasma brushes to the metal armature followed by a plasma armature). The hybrid armatures were compact, with shorter current distributions than plasma armatures as measured with both optical and electromagnetic probes. Although the results are preliminary, due to the limited geometries investigated, the results are very encouraging. The short (less than one-bore-diameter) hybrids demonstrated efficiencies equal to or greater than plasma armatures and good armature stability