How does the electrothermal gun get a higher initial velocity?

The muzzle velocity of the commonly used gun powered by solid propellant is about 1000 m/s ... The tank gun with the highest muzzle velocity is only 1600 ~ 1700 m/s.

From the test, the electric gun can really greatly improve the muzzle velocity of the gun, which can generally reach more than 2000 meters per second.

The electrothermal gun uses external power supply to provide all or part of the energy for the projectile to fly out of the muzzle. It is mainly composed of external power supply and acceleration. A high-voltage electrode and a capillary containing fuel are introduced into its bolt. The combustion chamber of this gun is filled with hydrogen-containing compounds or their mixture to produce high-pressure gas.

When the electrothermal gun fires the projectile, the electric energy provided by the external power supply is input to the electrode connected to the capillary through the wire, and the electrode is discharged under the action of strong current, which stimulates the combustion in the capillary, thus generating high-pressure plasma up to tens of thousands of degrees Celsius. Under the action of high pressure, high-temperature plasma is rapidly injected into the combustion chamber of hydrogen-containing compounds from the nozzle, and the input electric energy is converted into heat energy.

In the combustion chamber, the plasma reacts with hydrogen-containing compounds to produce a large amount of gas, which suddenly increases the pressure, thus accelerating the projectile to fly out of the muzzle along the barrel.

The advantage of electrothermal gun is low input power level, which is convenient for miniaturization of equipment. But also has the advantages of high muzzle velocity, long range and small recoil, and may be put into practical use as soon as possible before the electromagnetic gun.