Functional Assurance Certification Process for Low Energy Exploding Foil Initiators (LEEFIs) in Future Strategic Weapons Systems

This technical abstract discusses the importance of low energy exploding foil initiators (LEEFI or EFI) in strategic national defense and the need for these detonation systems to function reliably under various radiation environments. Due to the precise nature of the systems that utilize EFI's, it is critical that they operate with no degradation in performance when exposed to elevated radiation environments prior to actuation. Additionally, as EFI's find increasing use in future munition systems, it is necessary to better understand how they perform when subjected to various radiation environments, including neutrons, gammas, X-rays, electrons, and High Power Mircrowave(HPM)/Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP). To address this need, Integrated Solutions for Systems (IS4S) proposes developing a Functional Assurance Certification Process (FACP) to characterize EFI bridge foil parameters and their effect on performance in these harsh environments. The FACP would allow for determining pass/fail criteria across a wider selection of new EFI designs and provide a standard characterization process for the performance of bridge foils of varying materials, sizes, shapes, composition, fabrication techniques, and performance. IS4S is uniquely qualified to support this effort with an unmatched team of Subject Matter Experts (SME's), past performance, and equipment not typical of a small business to support the successful execution of this program. IS4S SME's have examined the effects of radiation on a wide range of solid-state electronics, conducted sophisticated radiation transport modeling using GEANT4, and designed, constructed, and tested multiple high-performance EFI Firesets for the precise characterization of EFI flyer performance. Additionally, IS4S has a world-class High-Power Microwave (HPM) team with an EMP susceptibility capability in-house that can be leveraged in later phases of the proposed program to support testing of EFI and associated electronics against those threats. IS4S is also refurbishing and installing a Nuclear Weapons Effects simulator (NWES) Pulserad Model Generator that was recently decommissioned from the Navy postgraduate school, which would be ideal for benchmarking transport models of representative coupons of EFI bridge sections. The Pulserad 112A is a gamma simulator that employs Blumlein technology capable of a radiation exposure area of 2” x 2” at a 1000 Rads. These resources represent a significant core competency that will be necessary to develop an FACP and support IS4S's unique ability to execute the program proposed herein. Ultimately, the proposed FACP will provide potential users with a broader understanding of how EFI's degrade when subjected to harsh radiation environments and enable the development of more reliable and effective EFI's for use in a wide range of weapon systems across the Department of Defense.