Advanced Blast Packaging Materials

Advanced Materials Technology, Inc responds to the Navy need to develop novel blast packaging materials that will contain blast effects of an accidentally detonated weapon, namely MK84 bomb. The container should be lightweight and strong for ease of handling and must meet shipboard fire, smoke, and toxicity requirements. We propose to develop a highly innovative and lightweight container structure that will meet the desired requirements. The novel blast packaging design will incorporate two essential principles, namely energy (shock) absorption and fragment containment. The design goals can be accomplished via several layers of different materials, each performing a separate function. Moreover, we shall perform a numerical simulation of the detonation of a MK84 bomb to define parameters required for blast containment, in particular: (1) tensile and compression properties of new materials such as modulus, strength, elongation at high strain rates, (2) container configuration such as thickness and diameter of container, and (3) layer configuration in multi-layer container structure. The simulation study will help us guide the development of unique materials and design configuration to meet program objectives. Once the feasibility of the proposed concept is demonstrated in Phase I, we shall scale-up the proposed technology in the Phase II program.