THROUGH 50 CALIBER CARTRIDGE BRASS CUP DIMENSIONS AND HARDNESS

THE U.S. ARMY'S SMALL CALIBER AMMUNITION MODERNIZATION PROGRAM (SCAMP) CARTRIDGE BRASS (70/30) CUP INSPECTION IS CURRENTLY A MANUAL PROCESS THAT IS BASED ON THE DIMENSIONAL AND HARDNESS (OR GRAIN SIZE( MEASUREMENTS OF SAMPLES FROM EACH CUP LOT. IN THIS PROPOSED WORK, TESTING WITH LABORATORY MOCKUPS WOULD EVALUATE THE MOST PROMISING SENSING TECHNIQUES FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF CUP DIMENSIONS AND HARDNESS. HIGH-SPEED MEASUREMENT OF DIMENSIONS WILL BE EVALUATED USING NON-CONTACT OPTICAL, EDDY CURRENT AND CAPACITANCE SENSING AS WELL AS WITH CONTACT LVDT BASED SENSORS. BRASS HARDNESS IS COMPLICATED BY THE SENSITIVITY OF BRASS TO WORK HARDENING. HOWEVER, HARDNESS WILL BE EVALUATED WITH A COMBINATION OF EDDY CURRENT SENSORS AND HIGHSPEED INDENTATION HARDNESS SENSING SUCH AS ROCKWELL AND BRINNEL TECHNIQUES. EXPERIMENTAL TESTS WOULD BE COMPLETED THAT WOULD ESTABLISH AN EMPIRICAL BASIS FOR HARDNESS AND DIMENSIONAL SENSORS. A CONCEPTUAL SYSTEM DESIGN WILL THEN BE DEVELOPED IN WHICH THE MOST PROMISING SENSORS ARE INTEGRATED WITH A CUP HANDLING SYSTEM AND INTERCHANGEABLE TOOLING TO MEASURE 5.56MM THROUGH 50 CALIBER CUPS. A PROTOTYPE SYSTEM WOULD BE DEVELOPED IN A FOLLOW-ON PHASE 2 PROJECT, BASED ON THIS CONCEPTUAL SYSTEM DESIGN.