1426
5, MAY 2013
Analysis on Thermal Character of Interface Between
Rail and Armature for Electromagnetic Railgun
He Li, Bin Lei, Qing-Ao Lv, and Zhi-Yuan Li
Abstract— The thermal character of the interface between
rail and armature significantly affects the launch performance
of electromagnetic railguns. In this paper, the friction coef-
ficient µ between brass and aluminum is discussed; it is
found that, under hypervelocity and electrical contact conditions,
µ maintains an order of magnitude of 10−2 or less, which is
smaller than that under normal conditions. A 2-D simulation
model is developed to analyze the temperature character of
armature contact surface caused by friction, and the simu-
lated results concretely demonstrate the order of magnitude of
µ when armature is launching in bore. Another 3-D simulation
model is also developed to obtain the temperature distribution
on the armature contact surface under high current. According
to simulation results of interface temperature distribution, the
thermal effect on armature wear and contact performance is
analyzed. For an electromagnetic railgun with hypervelocity and
high current, it is concluded that the heat generated by friction
and high current can cause armature surface film to melt and
cause armature edges of ends to be damaged. The aluminum film
is helpful to improve the contact performance.
Index Terms— Armature, contact surface, railgun, thermal
character.
I. I NTRODUCTION
B ECAUSE of its excellent performance, the electromag-
netic railgun is being widely studied for future military
use [1]. Currently, one of the key technologies is to restrain the
onset of gouging on rail surface [2]. In a hypervelocity sliding
system, gouges form because of impacts, thermal flashes,
and so on [3]. In this paper, two kinds of thermal factors
on the interface between rail and armature for a raigun are
investigated. On one hand, the armature slides along the rails
at hypervelocity with transient high current flowing across
the interface of rail and armature, which induces Joule heat
in both interacting surface layers. On the other hand, with
Lorentz force and preload force acting on the breech of the
armature, friction heat is also generated on both layers. For
a single shot, heat has little effect on the rail. However, the
cyclic thermal stress may reduce the fatigue life of the rails
on multishots [4]. When an armature launches, the contact
surfaces heat throughout the entire process. It should be
noticed that the heat generated on interface layers may have
severe effect on the performance of contact and mechanical
Manuscript received October 25, 2012; revised January 29, 2013; accepted
February 5, 2013. Date of current version May 6, 2013. This work was
supported in part by the Academy Application Fundamental Research Project
Fund.
The authors are with the Shijiazhuang Mechanical Engineering College,
Hebei 050003, China (e-mail: lihe324@163.com; Leibin2012@163.com;
lvqing-ao@163.com; lzyncw@yahoo.com.cn).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPS.2013.2246873
0093-3813/$31.00 © 2013 IEEE
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 41, NO.
wear as it can soften armature material (Fig. 1). Transient
heat will become increasingly important for electromagnetic
rail launchers.
For a typical shot, the total heat mainly contains Joule
heat and friction heat. The armature slides extremely fast
(for several milliseconds), as a result, there is hardly any
convection and radiation. In the case of Joule heat, it depends
on the contact resistance and the values of pulse transient
current [6]. For friction heat, it relies on the transverse pressure
and friction coefficient, and can be expressed as the flash point
of the interface. In 1963, Block calculated flash temperature
according to heat conduction theory. The load density and
friction coefficient are taken into account by modeling the flash
temperature between two surfaces with relative motion. The
typical formula can be expressed as follows:
 1/4
1 1 (v 1 − v 2 )
T = 0.62λμω E 3/4
+ ·  √ (1)
ρ1 ρ2 B1 v 1 + B2 v 2
where T is the flash temperature, λ is weighting number, ω
is load density, E is Yung’s modulus, ρ is material density, B
is contact thermal coefficient, and ν is velocity (subscripts 1
and 2 are respective symbol for surface material).
In this paper, we try to seek the order of friction coefficient
value on the interface and to select proper parameters to
simulate the heat generated on the interface. Then, the effects
of Joule heat and friction heat on armature contact surfaces are
separately discussed, which is intended to provide guidelines
for thermal management and reference for gouging study.
II. F RICTION C OEFFICIENT ON I NTERFACE
The significant characteristics of armature behavior on the
interface are hypervelocity sliding, high current density, and
transient flash temperature, which is related to the former two.
The friction coefficient μ in (1) is the key element to calculat-
ing the flash temperature for a railgun with given component
materials and armature velocity. For a railgun interface, μ is
involved with relative velocity, current, and temperature.
A. Relative Velocity
With respect to the friction coefficient under normal condi-
tions, it can be determined by (2), which is summarized by
according to experimental results
μ = (a + bv)e−cv + d (2)
where ν is sliding velocity, and a, b, c, and d are constants that
rely on the loads and material property. In those developed
examinations, the value of c increased and approached 1
LI et al.: ANALYSIS ON THERMAL CHARACTER OF INTERFACE BETWEEN RAIL AND ARMATURE
Fig. 1. Damaged armature after launching in Institute for Advanced
Technology [5].
along with the improvement of pressure. Therefore, the friction
coefficient decreased as an exponential function. This means
that the friction coefficient μ tends to infinitesimal, as the
speed is fast enough. However, this is impossible for a
railgun because the pressure on the armature surface that leads
to apparent area is much higher than what
employed. Therefore, the friction coefficient should be deter-
mined by other approaches. It is clear that when armature
velocity increases, the friction coefficient decreases.
B. Current
The effect of current on the friction coefficient is complex.
The friction coefficient variation is deeply researched in exper-
iments by Brown [7]. They modified a mesoscale friction tester
to measure the coefficient of friction and parameters associated
with current flow. Their preliminary results indicated that
current flow decreased coefficient of friction by ∼50% in
the case of metal-on-metal elastic contact with high current
density (1010 A/m2 ). Such experiments are also performed by
Dong [8]. Although the value of current in their experiment
is much smaller than in Brown’s, the similar results show that
the current flowed through the interface decreased the friction
coefficient.
C. Temperature
A notable change on the contact interface is rapid tem-
perature rise, when it experiences both high current density
and hypervelocity sliding. At the initial phase of the current
feed-in, the current values and armature velocity are low,
and the interface behavior endures dry friction for a short
time. Subsequently, the pulse current rises, and friction heat
and Joule heat cumulate on the interface. As a result, local
surfaces of the armature contact surface begin to soften or
even melt. Some experiments are performed to investigate
the variation of friction coefficient between aluminum and
brass material. The results show that when the temperature
on the test material surface exceeds 300 °C, the friction
coefficient decreases nearly linearly, and when the temperature
approaches the melting point of aluminum, the value of the
friction decreases to ∼0.36 from 0.46, which is the value at
normal temperature [9].
Stefani and Parker [10] studied the armature sliding behav-
ior with a velocity of 2 km/s in a Mega Ampere current railgun.
Armature melted film deposited on the rail surface is observed;
1427
it implied that the contact state between rail and armature
became liquid–metal lubricated contact. Obviously, under this
contact condition, the friction coefficient became smaller than
solid–solid contact.
All research results on parameters of friction coefficient
indicate a decrease on interface of rail and armature in a
hypervelocity and high current railgun. Even if the single
parameter change cannot present the real condition of launch-
ing, a reasonable conclusion that the friction coefficient of the
interface in a launching railgun becomes small is accepted.
III. T EMPERATURE C ALCULATION
Unlike general friction heat, heat quantity generated during
electromagnetic gun launch owes to its special characters: 1)
the act time is very short; 2) the sliding speed is very high;
and 3) the physics conditions on interface are very complex.
According to theories of tribology and thermology, heat flow
density q f on the sliding interface could be expressed as
q f = μpv (3)
where ν is armature sliding speed, and p is normal press
distribution on contact area. Joule heat q J relies on the contact
resistant R and current I flowing through R
q J = I 2 R. (4)
Temperature field on interface of rail and armature can be
determined by unsteady heat conduct equation without internal
heat source [11]
∂T
ρc − k∇ 2 t = 0. (5)
∂t
The boundary condition of (5) is

∂ T 
−k = q f + qJ (6)
∂n  τ
where k is coefficient of heat conductivity, ρ is bulk density,
and c is specific heat.
IV. S IMULATION A NALYSIS
Joule heat and friction heat simulation models are separately
developed to obtain respective effect on armature performance.
The rail and armature are modeled based on the following
reasonable assumptions.
1) Contact condition on interface of rail and armature is
solid–solid contact, the temperature on armature contact
surface is allowed to unrestrainedly rise without consid-
ering the melt film on rail surface.
2) Armature sliding velocity is considered to be constant,
without regard to the effect of temperature rise to the
friction coefficient and contact resistant.
3) Joule heat and friction heat are computed separately and
take no account of coupling with each other.
U-shaped aluminum armature and brass rail are established
in a 3-D static model for the Joule heat simulation. The
armature dimensions are 20 × 20 × 36 mm with a radius
of 5 mm at the neck of armature. If the current value is
350 kA, after 1 ms the temperature is distributed as shown in
Fig. 2(a) and (b). The cross section of the rail is a rectangle
1428 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 41, NO. 5, MAY 2013

(a)
(a)

(b)
Fig. 2. Temperature distribution on armature surface (front at right).
(a) t = 0.1 ms. (b) t = 0.2 ms.
(b)

with the dimensions of 10 × 40 mm. As we focus on the

temperature displays on armature surface, the rails in Fig. 2(a)
and (b) are not plotted.
As Fig. 2(a) shows, from armature head to tip, temperature
distribution on the surface displays a decreasing gradient. The
highest temperature on contact surface is about 340 °C, and the
lowest temperature appears at the rear of contact surface where
no induced current is observed. The highest temperature on
armature head near edge implies a maximum current density.
From Fig. 2(b), the heat conduction is obvious toward the
inner side of the armature wing. Simultaneously, another inter-
esting phenomenon shown in Fig. 2(b) is that the temperature (c)
on the interior of the armature neck is higher than that on the
Fig. 3. Temperature distribution of different friction coefficients (head at
exterior. In Fig. 2(b), the highest temperature on armature has right). (a) μ = 0.05. (b) μ = 0.02. (c) μ = 0.1.
reached to about 2200 °C. The accumulation of heat at these
places may cause local melt as current flow time increases.
With respect to simulation of friction heat, we are only
interested in contact surface. Based on the assumption of para- experience approach. Temperature distributions with different
meters along contact surface normal distribution are consistent, friction coefficients of 0.02 and 0.05 are computed, and results
a scaled 2-D model is developed to compute the friction heat. are shown in Fig. 3(a) and (b).
For the sake of applying load expediently and decreasing It is clear in Fig. 3(a) that the temperature on contact surface
calculation, U-shaped armature breech is a simplified block at the armature head could reach 2330 °C, which far exceeds
with dimensions of 10 × 26 mm. Element edge length the melt point of aluminum. Temperature raise only limits
along armature width is set to be 1.25 mm. If the armature the near-rail-surface elements, which illustrates the thermal
sliding distance is 1 m at velocity of 1000 m/s, according to penetration cannot exceed 1.2 mm in 1 ms interval. In our
3-D model dimensions and current value the pressure acts experiments, the wear extent on contact surface is less than
on armature contact surface is estimated to be 20 MPa by 1 mm after armature slides 1 m distance at a peak speed of
LI et al.: ANALYSIS ON THERMAL CHARACTER OF INTERFACE BETWEEN RAIL AND ARMATURE
3000
µ=0.02
µ=0.05
2500
2000
temp ( c)
1500
o
1000
500
0
0.0000 0.0002 0.0004 0.0006 0.0008 0.0010 0.0012
time (s)
Fig. 4. Temperature of the node on contact surface at armature head versus
time.
1500 km/s or so. As heat induced by friction is considered
to be nontransferrable, the objective of friction heat soften or
melt armature surface, and then improve the rate of wear.
To avoid rapid rising of temperature on armature head
contact point, an incomplete contact model with friction
coefficient 0.1 is established, and the result of simulation is
shown in Fig. 3(c). Because of large load substep size, the
temperature profile on contact surface is not smooth. In 0.3 ms
interval, almost 1-mm depth of contact surface is melted, as
the temperature of these elements exceed the aluminum melt
point.
To contrast temperature change conditions, the contact head
node temperatures and contact surface nodes temperatures
in the same model are listed. In Fig. 4, it is shown that
temperatures under different friction coefficient rise nonlinear,
and temperature cumulative can also be found. If μ = 0.05,
temperature reached to a melt point of aluminum at ∼0.7 ms,
thus the local place has worn before this time. From Fig. 5, it
is found that the temperature on head and tip of armature is far
greater than it is on the middle. Besides, temperatures induced
on middle of armature are barely consistent and maintain a
range of 300 °C–400 °C, it seems that the temperature on
armature middle is irrelative with values of friction coefficient.
V. D ISCUSSION
In this paper, a significant issue of heat amount from
different ways should be considered. Simultaneously, friction
heat mainly accumulates in the thin layer of armature contact
surface, which affects significantly the friction coefficient.
Almost all friction heat distributing on armature contact sur-
face causes surface softening or melting. Thus, friction heat is
beneficial to the sliding armature as it lubricates the contact
surface. Most of the Joule heat deposits at the band of armature
head, so the edge of armature head must be damaged severely
during launch, as it is with more current. Similar behavior
is also observed in the low-speed launch test, as shown in
Fig. 6. The damaged areas on test armature are located on the
rear of armature, which are opposite to the simulated results.
This is because the pulse current path in the experiment is
different from the one in simulation. In a launch test, the rear
of armature is under more pressure, thus, the contact resistance
1429
2500 µ=0.05
µ=0.02
2000
1500
temp (°C)
1000
500
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
position (mm)
Fig. 5. Temperature of nodes along contact surface.
Fig. 6. Tested armature contact surface (front at right).
is much less than other areas, it also means that more current
flows through armature rear area. The simulation results are
still senseful in spite of difference with the actual. Besides,
structural design should be taken into account to modify the
current density distribution on armature contact surface.
The aluminum melt film deposits on rail surface display
a process of flash temperature, so, we can deduce that heat
amount also deposits on surface layer with the armature slid-
ing. It is clear from (3) that the friction heat increases as fric-
tion coefficient increases. Thus, the friction coefficient under
relative hypervelocity and high current conditions should be
less than or equal to an order of magnitude with 10−2 , or else,
armature head will invalidate because of absorb superabundant
friction heat.
Because of notional face–face contact model of rail and
armature, Joule heat on armature surface affects the real
distribution, whereas, temperature tendency chart is worth to
explore. Friction heat increases actual apparent area, dimin-
ishes contact resistant, and lubricates interface of rail and
armature, which is beneficial to hypervelocity electrical con-
tact sliding. But the friction heat accumulating on rear of
armature contact surface may be harmful to armature, because
the wear causes erosion and reduces the launch efficiency.
Furthermore, with the armature contact surface soften and
wear, the new armature material touches rail surface, therefore,
contact condition under hypervelocity sliding can be consid-
ered consistent.
1430
VI. C ONCLUSION
This paper presented several conclusions that can be sum-
marized as follows.
1) In a solid armature railgun, the friction coefficient of
armature and rail was approximately an order of magni-
tude with 10−2 or less, when armature slides along rail
with hypervelocity and electrical contact.
2) Friction heat accumulates in the thin layer of armature
contact surface, and causes the both ends of contact
surface temperature to rise steeply. It was beneficial to
contact and lubrication between rail and armature.
3) Joule heat gradient on armature contact surface was
shown as zonal distribution. In the role of Joule heat, the
armature rear edges melt first. And heat that accumulates
in the inner of armature will cause further melting.
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He Li was born in Yuncheng, Shanxi, China,
in 1985. He received the M.Sc. degree from the
Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Shiji-
azhuang Mechanical Engineering College, Shiji-
azhuang, China, in 2010, where he is currently
pursuing the Ph.D. degree.
His current research interests include pulse power
technology and electromagnetic launch technology.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 41, NO. 5, MAY 2013
Bin Lei received the M.Eng. degree in machinery
design and manufacture from Shijiazhuang
Mechanical Engineering College, Shijiazhuang,
China, and the Ph.D. degree in machinery
manufacture from Freiberg Mining University,
Freiberg, Germany, in 1990 and 1998, respectively.
He is currently a Scientist with Shijiazhuang
Mechanical Engineering College. His current
research interests include measure and testing
techniques, control and simulation machines, and
electromagnetic launching, electromagnetic armor
technologies.
Dr. Lei is a Vice-Director of the Chinese Electromagnetic Launching
Committee.
Qing-ao Lv received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in
plasma physics from the Institute of Plasma Physics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, China, in 1997
and 2000, respectively.
He is a Research Physicist with Shijiazhuang
Mechanical Engineering College, Shijiazhuang,
China, where he studies plasma physics, electromag-
netic launching, pulsed power supply, and electro-
magnetic theory. He has authored and co-authored
more than 50 papers, reports, and presentations. He
holds the China patent for novel Magnetic Flux
Compression Generator device.
Zhi-yuan Li received the M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees
in electromagnetic launching theory and technology
from Shijiazhuang Mechanical Engineering College,
Shijiazhuang, China, in 2000 and 2003, respectively.
He was a Post-Doctoral Researcher with the
Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China, from
2003 to 2005. He is currently with Shijiazhuang
Mechanical Engineering College, where he stud-
ies electromagnetic launcher and electromagnetic
armor.
Dr. Li is a Vice-Director of the Chinese Electro-
magnetic Launching Committee.