Experimental Ballistic Improvement

in a Pure Electro-Thermal (ET) 25mm

Gun
Roger Alimi*, Lior Bakshi, Eran Kot, Noam Shafir, Daniel Forte and Moris Sudai

Propulsion Physics Division

SNRC, 81800 Yavne, Israel

Abstract- The Soreq Propulsion Physics Division has recently

initiated the development of a small caliber pure Electro-Thermal (ET)
weapon. This paper reports the promising results obtained with a 25mm
ET gun. The currently mature gun technology based on conventional
ballistic process is mostly limited because a) the propellant burning
features dictate a curve that is entirely determined by the grain geometry
and cannot be changed "online", and b) the pressure gradient between
the breech and the projectile’s base strongly depends on the molecular
weight of the combustion gases, which is almost propellant formulation
independent. Removing of the first limitation and reducing the second
one is the key of the ET technology. ET guns use electric energy as the
unique source of propelling energy. It is converted into a high-
temperature plasma which interacts in the chamber with an inert cooling
fluid that serves also as a propelling working fluid. In this study two
types of working fluids were tested: polyethylene and water.
Polyethylene was found unsuitable for our purposes. Experiments,
supported by simulations, show that the degree of water dissociation
was enough to produce the required working fluid. Using 750kJ of ET
energy, 20% improvement in kinetic energy was obtained with a
standard projectile without exceeding the maximum authorized breech
pressure. It has been shown that the well known barrel erosion issue is
mostly due to the aggressive abrasion of the cartridge metal by the hot
plasma jet. A new cartridge concept has been especially designed to
overcome this problem. Results are very satisfactory.

*
e-mail: roger@soreq.gov.il
 I. INTRODUCTION

Based on its wide experience on Electro-Thermal (ET) and Electro-Thermal-

Chemical (ETC) propulsion technology [1-2], the Soreq Propulsion Physics Division
has recently initiated the development of a small caliber ET gun system.
The potential advantages of this technology are well known: augmented muzzle energy
leading to higher penetration power and improved firing ranges. The process is also
expected to be more precise, controllable and repeatable than conventional shots. These
properties are also translatable in better external and terminal ballistics. The program
includes the design of the cannon and the required modifications for electrical energy
addition, and a portable compact inductive power supply system. The whole system is
intended to be mounted on a light combat vehicle suitable for military interventions in
difficult field conditions [3]. The purpose of the ET acceleration upgrade is to improve
by at least 30% the muzzle energy of conventional projectiles.

Our system includes a standard 25mm gun barrel, a modified cartridge suitable for
ET energy addition, and a plasma injector connected to a power energy supply capable
to deliver tailored pulses of electrical energy. Pulses lengths vary from 0.5 to 2 ms and
injection power can rise 1 GW under suitable conditions. Special attention is given to
the plasma pulse design, the penetration of the jet into the cartridge and its influence on
the early stage of the ballistic process. Computer codes that include special physical
models of all parts of the whole process are used for predicting the ballistics, reducing
the risks and optimizing the performance of the ET process [4-6]. These codes deal with
the electrical and the mechanical aspects of the power energy supply and delivery.
Special care is also given to the description of the plasma jet dynamics within the
plasma injector, the cartridge and the barrel as well. The program forecasts combined
experimental measurements and theoretical analysis of the rarefaction wave
phenomenon from which most of the ET effect is expected.

The basic physical effect can be briefly summarized as follows. The pressure
gradient is mainly determined by the sound velocity of the medium that transfers the
pressure generated in the breech to the base of the projectile. The sound velocity
increases as the molecular weight of the working gas decreases. By replacing the
relatively heavy combustion gas of conventional chemical propellant by a light working
fluid generated by the electric energy one should greatly improve the ballistic
performance of the gun. The working fluid results from the dissociation of a solid or
liquid material present in the cartridge prior to the introduction of the hot plasma jet.
The plasma gas will induce the dissociation of the material and create a light gas that
serves both for cooling the plasma and as an efficient working fluid, with a high speed
of sound. The plasma jet is generated in the injector by passing a current pulse through
a dielectric capillary [7-9]. It has been shown that the plasma jet can be generated in a
stationary mode of operation where the main jet parameters, such as pressure and
temperature, are controlled by discharge parameters such as current and geometry. The
firing facilities, including the gun, the energy storage and the data acquisition system
have been widely described in past publications [6] and will not be reviewed here.
 II. POLYETHYLENE EXPERIMENTS

The first working fluid candidate was polyethylene (PE) in the form of thin strips
randomly packed and loaded in the 100cc cartridge of the 25mm gun. The geometric
shape of the PE has been chosen to optimize the contact surface area with the plasma
jet. The purpose of the PE fibers is twofold. First, one expects the plastic material to
cool down the hot plasma jet. This is necessary since the temperature of the plasma that
leaves the injector can reach 10000 degrees K. Such a hot gas will irreversibly damage
the gun (by erosion of the cartridge and the gun barrel). The dissociation of the PE is
expected to reduce the gas temperature to a few thousands of degrees. Still the
temperature will be higher than in conventional guns, meaning that the working life of
the gun is expected to be shorter than regular, propellant based systems. Simple
thermodynamic considerations show that full dissociation of 10gr of PE fibers should
reduce the gas temperature to the high but acceptable value of 4700K. The second effect
of the PE fibers is the production of the light gas that acts as a working fluid in the
ballistic process. Again, from simple theoretical estimation, and assuming complete
dissociation, one should improve by a factor of 5 the gas sound velocity with respect
to conventional propellant combustion gas. This should lead to significant reduction of
the rarefaction wave i.e. the pressure gradient between the breech of the gun and the
projectile base. The code used for the calculation is the one dimensional two-phase flow
XKTC program. The way the ET energy is being introduced in XKTC has been
described in previous reports and will not be discussed here. In the code the PE was
assumed to dissociate immediately with the beginning of the ET pulse. The PE
dissociation creates a gas meanly defined by two parameters: its molecular weight Mw
and its adiabatic constant γ. Calibration adjustments had shown that complete
dissociation is simulated with Mw = 5gr/mol and γ=1.23. Incomplete dissociation is
simulated using higher molecular weight values and by decreasing γ.

Table I: Simulation results for 25mm ET shots using a 130gr projectile

ET (kJ) γ V (m/s) ∆v (%) ∆E (%)

500 1.25 1510 14 30
500 1.18 1430 8 16
600 1.18 1520 14 30
750 1.14 1515 14 30

Table I presents the results of simulations performed to estimate the potential of

complete vs. partial dissociation and to see how the addition of electric energy can
compensate the degradation of the performance due to the partial dissociation of the PE
fibers. The baseline velocity used in the improvement calculations is 1330m/s.
Experiments: results and conclusions.

The methodology to reach the maximum allowed pressure (and hopefully muzzle
velocity) by gradually varying the projectile weight and the ET energy injected in the
gun. In all experiments, the best adiabatic constant value that fits the recorded data was
found to be 1.12. Using high powers did not help to reach a more complete dissociation
of the PE. Significant barrel erosion due to splattering of the cartridge by the plasma
damages the gun. This is directly correlated with the weak decomposition of the PE
fibers: therefore, plasma is not cooled enough by the polyethylene and seriously attacks
and damages the metal cartridge. In summary, results were quite disappointing: even
when 550kJ of ET at 800MW power were injected, a maximum pressure of only
2600bar and a muzzle velocity of 1280m/s. Full dissociation would have led a
maximum pressure of more than 4000 bars. Experimental results indicate that only a
very partial dissociation of the PE fibers has been induced by the plasma. The expected
cooling process did not occur and the jet causes a severe damage to the gun barrel.
Moreover the resulting gas was not light enough to lead to significant improvement of
the ballistic performance. The best velocity improvement obtained for the heavier
projectile did not exceed 5%.

Two main directions were now opened: the first one was to try to improve the PE
dissociation by testing other sizes/shapes/colors of PE materials that could hopefully
optimize the energy transfer with the plasma jet. The second option was to look at
another material with which we did have some experience from past research work
about 10 years ago with water [11]. We decided to check the second option.

III. WATER EXPERIMENTS

Theoretical Considerations

The interaction of a plasma jet with water is a complex process that involves
energetics, hydrodynamics, non-equilibrium chemistry and thermodynamics. The
interaction occurs at the surface interface between the jet and the liquid. This means that
the energy transfer is directly proportional to the area of the liquid exposed to the
plasma. This area is itself a function of the jet properties such as shape, velocity and
temperature. The total area depends on the formation and evolution of two
hydrodynamic instabilities: the Rayleigh-Taylor cavity (jet penetration) and the Kelvin-
Helmoltz effect (droplet formation due to shear forces) [12]. At the interface, the water
first evolves an evaporation process and further on, if the conditions allow, a more
complete dissociation to molecular or even atomic Hydrogen and Oxygen.

Vaporized water has a molecular weight of 18gr/mol. Conventional propellant

combustion gases have an average molecular weight of 24gr/mol. The gain in sound
velocity goes like √ (24/18) = 15%, that can, theoretically at least, compensate the
rarefaction wave along the barrel. From an energy point of view it is easy to see that
only 4kJ are required to vaporize 10gr of liquid water. The dissociation of 1mole of
water (18gr) to molecular Hydrogen and Oxygen requires about 572kJ of energy, i.e.
about 290kJ for 10gr of water, and produces a gas with an average molecular weight of
12gr/mol. Dissociation to atomic species will give an average molecular weight of
6gr/mol. However, both processes (vaporization and dissociation) require a very
efficient mixing process, which is far from being reached during the small time scale of
the shot. Finally, like in the PE case, the cooling power of the water will depend on the
degree of dissociation: simple evaporation has almost no effect on the plasma
temperature while complete dissociation will strongly cool down the mixture and "steal"
non negligible amount of energy that cannot any more be transferred to the projectile.
The real mixture will probably include all possible species: water vapor, some
Hydrogen and Oxygen molecules and perhaps a few amounts of atomic species. The
exact relative composition of the mixture cannot be predicted but will have a visible
influence on the cartridge/barrel erosion (cooling effect) and on the ballistic
performance (molecular weight effect).

Experiments

After several test/calibration experiments we have decided to use water in the

form of a low density foam (about 0.1gr/cc). The projectile (80gr) was fired using 400kJ
of electric energy (pulse length 1.2 ms at a maximum power of 500MW). Two grams of
gelatinized water have been placed behind the projectile to avoid direct contact of the
plasma jet with the projectile base. A maximum breech pressure of 2600bar and a
muzzle velocity 1385 m/s were recorded. Figure 1 shows the pressure curves recorded
along the gun barrel. Plain lines are simulation, dashed lines are experimental.

Fig. 1: Simulated vs. experimental pressure curves along the barrel

for the first shots with water in the 25mm ET gun

The simulation is basically the same as the PE case. We assume 10 gr. of inert gas
are almost immediately created as the pulse is injected. This gas has an average
molecular weight of 14gr/mol, it mixes with the plasma jet and serves as a working
fluid for transferring the electric energy to the projectile. Like in the PE case the value
of adiabatic constant (γ) will provide us as an indicator for the degree of dissociation.
The shot reproduction shown in Figure 1 was obtained with γ= 1.14. This value was
never reached with the PE fibers. Despite the still low maximum pressure value, we
have compared the ET result with its conventional equivalent (same breech pressure
using an optimal geometrically designed propellant). The conventional simulated
muzzle velocity reached 1295m/s instead of 1385m/s for the ET shot, i.e. an
improvement of 7% in velocity and more than 14% in kinetic energy. The simulated
conventional and ET pressure curves along the barrel are shown in Figure 2.

Fig. 2: Calculated conventional vs. ET pressure curves for shot #25

The conventional curves show more progressivity (they decay slower).
This is due to the progressive geometry of the grains that continue burning while being
dragged behind the projectile. This could not be obtained with the plasma jet. On the
other hand the maximum values of the ET curves are much higher. This means that the
energy transfer mechanism from the breech to the projectile base is much better in the
ET case, probably because of the higher sound velocity reached using water vapor
instead of the heavy propellant combustion gases.

Following this promising analysis we decided to pursue with water, although we

already started seeing that barrel erosion will also be a critical issue. The target shot will
include the standard 25mm projectile (130gr) and the maximum "injectable" electric
energy. The pressure should be at least 4000 bar and the muzzle velocity not under 1500
m/s. Of course this shot should be fired with the minimum damage to the
cartridge/barrel.

Experimental results have shown that without solving the problem of cartridge
erosion it would not be possible to inject more than 500kJ of plasma, while significative
improvement of the ballistic performance cannot be obtained using less than 750kJ. The
idea was therefore to design a new cartridge in which a more appropriate protection
could be applied. The concept was concretized in the following way. A steel case was
designed. Its back part is screwable. The main part can be filled by an appropriate hard
plastic hollow sheath that should protect the metal case from plasma attack. A shot with
720kJ was designed, at a maximum power of 850MW. A standard projectile (130gr)
was used. The results were encouraging.

The plastic sheath has been almost totally burnt by the plasma jet, but it has
protected the metal case from erosion, except from the very last portion close to the
initial projectile base position. The new steel cartridge was therefore chosen in the
design of the so called "ultimate shot". This was done in a two steps procedure.

First step: All parameters were kept the same, except for the electric energy
reduced to 500 kJ. A new steel
case was manufactured and a
thiner plastic sheath was
introduced in the cartridge. The
pressure recorded was smooth
and reached 4000 bars. The
muzzle velocity was measured
and equals to 1375m/s. As shown
in Figure 3 agreement with
theory was good, both for the
pressure and the velocity. Step
two: Using exactly the same
simulation parameters than those
used in the reproduction of the
last shot, but with a pulse Fig. 3:Exp. vs. sim. pressure curves in the first step shot
containing 750kJ (shown in
Figure 4 in black) one predicts a breech pressure of 3800 bars and a muzzle velocity of
1500m/s. These results are equivalent to 14.3% improvement in projectile velocity and
30% in kinetic energy. The pulse designed for the optimal shot cannot be practically
built for the time being. In order to lengthen the pulse we would have to reduce the
power in such a way that the maximum pressure of 4000 bar could not be reached.
Instead we increase the energy from the last shot to 720 kJ by increasing the power.
The three pulses, the last good shot, the new shot and the optimal one are shown in
Figure 4.

The shot was fired. The whole system behaves very well, including mechanical
parts of the gun and electric components. The metal cartridge survives the shot due to
the protection of the plastic sheath that again did its job perfectly. The case can be used
again. The pressure has been measured and shows a peak at 4500 bars. The muzzle
velocity was 1485 m/s. The agreement with experiment is shown in Figure 5. The
calculated muzzle velocity is 1500m/s.
 Fig 4: Power curves of first step shot (blue),
optimal (black) and last shot (red) Fig. 5: Experimental and simulation pressure
of the last reported shot

The ballistic performance obtained in the last shot and the good agreement
between theory and experiment are very important and very encouraging. First the
results, as is, already show an improvement of almost 10% in velocity and 20% in
kinetic energy. Moreover we know now that a pulse of no more than 750kJ, which is
feasible to build with the correct PFN connections, should lead us to the desired
improved performance of 30% in kinetic energy of the projectile.

IV. CONCLUSIONS

The polyethylene option has been tested and, at least in its current form, has been
judged unsuitable for our purpose. Based on past experience reached at Soreq we have
chosen water (foam) to play the role of the inert cooling working fluid. High breech
pressure values have been recorded. According to the simulation this indicates the
presence of the relatively light gas, probably a mixture of water vapor and
molecular/atomic Hydrogen and Oxygen. However, at high plasma powers, the cooling
effect of the water was not sufficient enough to prevent a strong erosion of the cartridge
and the barrel. A new steel case combined with a hard plastic sheath has been designed
and successfully introduced in the system. A standard projectile (130gr) has been
accelerated to 1500m/s at a maximum breech pressure of 4500 bars, using 720kJ of
electric energy injected in a pulse of 1ms length. This already represents an effective
improvement of 20% in kinetic energy compared to optimal conventional performance
of this gun. According to our calibrated simulation models an appropriate 1.5ms-750kJ
plasma pulse should lead 30% kinetic energy improvement.

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