Bimetal Gun Barrels

Thermally stable machine gun barrels that exceed current barrel life, reduce dispersion, and allow higher or longer sustained rates of fire, require erosion-resistant, high temperature materials and techniques to integrate them. The goal of this program is to eliminate the need to carry extra barrels and change them in combat. The ideal barrel would consist of a high temperature alloy with a strongly-bonded, erosion-resistant liner. TPL"s Barrel Armor technology was developed to explosively weld refractory liners to medium and large caliber barrels. In Phase I, TPL demonstrated the ability to adapt its Barrel Armor technology to small caliber gun barrelsa clad M240 barrel was made and test fired. In Phase II, TPL will extend this technology to explosively weld refractory liners to high temperature alloys. The refractory liners are not only erosion resistant to reduce bore wear; they also help to insulate the barrel from heat. Even so, alloys with higher temperature capabilities than steel will be used as the primary barrel material, and TPL"s cladding technology will permanently bond the liner to the barrel. Prototype barrel blanks will be made and machined into ready-to-fire machinegun barrels. The prototypes will be subjected to live firing tests to demonstrate their increased abilities over currently fielded machinegun barrels.