Electro-thermal behavior of solid armatures

In this paper we discuss the electro-thermal behavior of solid armatures in railguns. This discussion is based on a review of results obtained by a theory that takes into account the three-dimensional nature of melting and vaporizing of the contact surface between rail and armature. This theory is numerically treated by an integral approach based on a suitable decomposition of rails and armature in hexahedrons, bricks and filamentary elements. After a recall of the main points of this theory and the related numerical technique, this review paper describes the principal features about the current flow, the heat production and exchange, the presence of liquid and vapor phases at the contact face of the armature, derived by this theory. In particular the shape of the melt front and the critical transition velocity predicted are in agreement with the experimental observations.