Preforming of Composite Armor for Ground Vehicles Using Heat Activated Binder Systems

Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc. (SPA) proposes to develop a full-scale, semi-active recoil damper system for the Apache AH-64 attack helicopter nose chain gun based on magnetorheological (MR) fluid and digital control technologies. By activelydissipating recoil forces, which excite the flexural modes of the gun barrel and the gun mount structure, this recoil system was shown in Phase I to reduce chain gun muzzle motion by up to 60% over the existing passive gun recoil system. The reducedmuzzle motion provided substantial improvements in the accuracy of the 30-mm gun and reduced recoil load transmission to the airframe during high rates of fire.In Phase II, existing MR fluid damper analysis and design methodology will be refined to incorporate micro-mechanical fluid effects to develop full-scale, retrofit MR dampers. Active control strategies investigated in Phase I will be refined and evaluatedin Phase II using an experimentally-validated multi-body gun dynamics analysis. During the 2-year Phase II effort, full-scale MR dampers will be built and systematically live fire tested on a M230 chain gun at a research grade ballistic range incollaboration with the Apache chain gun systems integrator, the Boeing Company. A feasibility study will be undertaken at the end of Phase II to determine the operational viability of the MR dampers on the Apache helicopter chain gun and other Army weaponsystems.