Launch capabilities to 16 km/s

A systematic study is described that has led to the successful launch of thin flier plates to velocities of 16 km/s. In this paper, we describe a novel technique that has been implemented to enhance the performance of the Sandia Hyper Velocity Launcher (HVL). This technique of creating an impact-generated acceleration reservoir, has allowed the launch of 0.5 mm to 1.0 mm thick titanium (Ti-6Al-4V) and aluminum (6061-T6) alloy plates to record velocities up to 15.8 km/s. These are the highest metallic projectile plate velocities ever achieved for macroscopic masses in the range of 0.1 g to 1 g.