The use of electromagnetic launch (EML) technology in the future launching mode is an inevitable trend. Based on the analysis of the common characters of EML technology, this paper presents the status of three technological branches such as EM aircraft launch, EM rail gun, EM thrust launch, and discusses some concrete problems and related research achievements in detail. Furthermore, clues and important points proposed in this paper will provide valuable reference for developing EML technology.

As a natural result of the electrified integration and electrical energy revolution, the electromagnetic launch (EML) technology will be inevitably used for future launch missions. This paper has summarized research focuses in this field according to the published papers on EML in China during the past decade and mainly introduced the current research and progress in several key technologies, including launcher, integrated launch package, high-power high-density supply, and overall control/maintenance. Some common pressing problems are pointed out to provide direction for the application of EML technology in engineering and many other fields, such as launcher life, miniaturization of power supply, and improvement of energy availability.

The antiferroelectric-like behavior could be retained up to 675 MV m⁻¹with a discharged energy density of 23.3 J cm⁻³because of the confinement of rigid PMMA segment onto the ferroelectric relaxation of P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE) and the high breakdown strength.

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) based ferroelectric fluoropolymers have attracted considerable attention in high energy density pulse capacitors application for the tunable and tight composition dependence of their ferroelectric performances. Grafting poly(methacrylate esters) (ca. poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)) onto the side chain of P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE) (TrFE refers to trifluoroethyelene and CTFE is chlorotrifluoroethylene) has been shown to be an effective route to tailor the ferroelectric performance of P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE). The resultant grafted copolymers possess advantages including well maintained high energy density and remarkably reduced energy loss. To further disclose the influence of a PMMA side chain on ferroelectric relaxation of a P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE) main chain, a set of P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE)-g-PMMA copolymers bearing PMMA content from 10 wt% to 32 wt% were synthesized and well characterized in this work. The dielectric and energy storage performance of the grafted copolymers were systematically investigated under increased electric field, testing temperature, and frequency. The PMMA side chain was found to exhibit great influence with ferroelectric performance under varied conditions by impeding crystallization and formation of the ferroelectric phase of the P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE) main chain along with increasing the Young's modulus of amorphous phase. As a result, the grafted copolymer with optimized PMMA content shows excellent stability with testing frequency, temperature, and electric field. That allows them to store and discharge energy consistently, which is rather important for energy storage capacitors working under varied conditions. With respect to promising energy storage performances together with low performance dependence during working conditions, the PMMA grafted P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE) copolymer may offer a great candidate material for high energy density pulse capacitors.

In dynamic launching processing of the electromagnetic rail launcher (ERL), the armature is sliding along the rail while the pulse current flows through the interface between the armature and rails. The distribution of physical fields at the interface of the rail and the armature is quite complex, and meanwhile they may be phenomena like abrasion, melt, erosion, and cutting, which are typical problems of rapid electrical contact sliding. For numerical analysis of ERL considering the movement of armature at the velocity of v, a new method has been introduced in this paper, which has used $v\cdot A = 0$ as a gauge condition by tree technique in Whitney elements. By this method, the interface condition of E has been satisfied while the continuity of the electric scalar potential $\varphi $ and the magnetic vector A across the interface of two conductor region has also been ensured. Finally, the 2-D and 3-D finite-element model has been built by the edge element method. The results of the model have been analyzed and compared with EMAP3D code's, which have verified the described methods.