Characterization and Modeling of TiNi based Foams for Integration into High Speed Penetrators

Large shock-loading events generated by a warhead penetrating a hardened bunker are difficult both to characterize and model, making the engineering to protect both the explosive and arm its fuzing mechanism exceeding difficult. Experimentally, shock loads propagating into existing warhead are hard to measure, and therefore make verification of shock and impact models difficult to verify.One solution to this incredibly difficult challenge is to significantly mitigate the incoming shock, such that the measurements of the shock loads are more reliable, increasing the computer simulations and more importantly, allowing for engineering improvements in the warhead and fuzing system. SCT and ARA will characterize and model a novel metal foam material for these applications that has shown excellent shock mitigation at high strain loading.