Integral containment electromagnetic gun

The integral containment electromagnetic (ICE) gun constitutes a structural containment design method that has been proposed to achieve desirable prestressing of railguns. The principal purpose of this method is to minimize the maximum strain excursion of the rail containment structure during firing stresses to maximize the fatigue life of lightweight armament. The ICE gun may be considered a means to achieve an "autofrettage" effect from a laminated steel disk railgun construction where the disks are strained upon assembly to achieve the desired prestress of the containment structure.