Contents I. Introduction
We HAVE successfully conducted an experiment that accelerated and imploded a heavy aluminum cylinder that attained a final energy in excess of 20 MJ. Power for this experiment came from an explosive magnetic-compression generator (EMG) that delivered over 100 MA to a liner. This current pulse accelerated a 4.0-mm-thick aluminum alloy liner from an inner radius of 236 mm onto a target of radius 55 mm (4.3:1 convergence ratio). An extensive array of diagnostics, placed in the glide planes and the target or central measurement unit (CMU), yielded data that substantially confirmed the pre-shot numerical calculations. Analysis of the data from these diagnostics showed that the inner surface of the liner reached a velocity of between 6.8–8.4 km/s. The consistency of data with detailed calculations allowed us to infer information about the liner state that was inaccessible from the probe arrays, which were constrained by operation in the vicinity of our EMG and its 300-kg charge of high explosives. One such inference was that the liner was largely solid at the time of target impact. This condensed-matter state allowed us to use the measured velocity to estimate a total kinetic energy in excess of 20 MJ. The power supply, the transmission line, and the liner dynamic data all agreed well with the calculations, usually to within 5%.
