Kinetic Energy Control for Reactive Fragments

ABSTRACT: MATSYS proposes to develop high energy density reactive materials to enhance the performance of Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT). We propose to develop the technology for small fragmentation warhead with high lethality and low collateral damage (LCD). We plan to achieve our goal using a powder metallurgy (PM) approach to fabricate a high reactivity, self consuming, controlled fragmentation warhead. Our design parameters include reactive material formulation, powder particle size, warhead case design, attenuation techniques and consolidation processes. The proposed material system will use a blend of several elemental or compound powders capable of participating in an energetic (exothermic) chemical reaction. The existence of different powder materials will allow for tailoring of the mechanical and reactive properties of the material through engineered variations of the volume fraction of each reactant and by adjusting their particle size. The consolidation will occur below the reaction initiation temperature to prevent any energy release during compaction and preserve the stored chemical energy of the exothermic reaction between the reactant powders. This effort will combine our unique expertise in powder consolidation with new approaches in reactive powder design to develop a new generation of small fragmentation warhead with high lethality and LCD. BENEFIT: The proposed program will have dual use applications in military as well as in commercial industries. The material can be transitioned into several Air Force hardware programs for military operations in urban terrain (MOUT) and other low collateral damage scenarios. Commercial applications include Homeland Security operations and law enforcement operations requiring low collateral damage.