Microstructural Treatment of Munitions Cases to Improve Performance

The US Air Force seeks new technologies to improve the fragmentation performance of legacy munitions.Traditional approaches for controlled fragmentation consist of notches or grooves on the order of 1-10 mm to control the fragment size distribution and shape.However, for USAF, new methods are needed that do not significantly alter the surface of the munitions casing to meet flight safety requirements.Corvids innovative approach consists of using small hole EDM drilling to microstructurally alter the Mk-82 munitions casing and improve the fragmentation performance.In Phase I, Corvid will leverage their high fidelity computational physics based tools and experience with warhead design to determine the optimal microhole pattern to achieve fragments of a desired size.Tensile tests of EDM drilled samples will be performed to characterize any changes in bulk mechanical properties.This technology will provide increased lethality while meeting flight safety requirements.Scoping out concepts using high fidelity computational analysis will realize reduced costs and timelines during the design phase of this effort. The EDM drilling process is amendable to low cost scale-up production for high volume (1000s per year) manufacture.