Extended Barrel Life

Performance requirements for existing and future gun systems demand improved lethality at longer ranges. This translates directly into increased muzzle velocity which is achieved by increasing propelling charge energy and, possibly even operaitng pressure. This combination of factors usually results in a decrease in the effective gun barrel life. While improvements in barrel technology to mitigate wear problem are warranted, barrel improvements alone may not be the most cost effective means for achieving an acceptable barrel wear life. By addressing wear life as a cost-driven systems problem, some of the burden for reducing barrel wear may be shifted to the ammuntion, in the form of wear-reducing additives. In the proposed program, a gun and ammunition system will be selected and wear additive development will be performed and demonstrated for that system. Additive formualtion and configuration work will be performed to address physical properties, combustion product chemistry, deployment requirements and characteristics, and the cost of implementation. Analyses will also be performed to scale additive concepts to different calibers and cartridge configurations.