Reactive Tungsten Alloy For Inert Warheads

Tungsten based alloys (WHA) are commonly used for kinetic energy munitions. However WHA's, both the tungsten and binder components, are generally quite inert and as such their effectiveness is limited to basic lethality of kinetic energy attributes. The purpose of this Phase-I effort is to develop a reactive binder for tungsten particles which effectively augment the lethality by incorporating reactive effects while still preserving the main kinetic energy attributes. The proposed material solution is based on the formulations of amorphous phase Liquidmetalr alloys, which provides extended range of material properties and as such extended flexibility in design. The unique amorphous structure of Liquidmetalr alloys also results in very high flow stress, tailorable density and failure modes, and robust processing and fabrication methods. Various formulations of Liquidmetal alloys will be explored and a candidate formulation will be identified for the optimum reactivity and suitability for composite fabrication. Analysis will be performed to identify an effective precursor composite architecture. The resulting formulation and composite architecture will be utilized to fabricate and test samples in Phase-II.