Rapid Freezing Injection Molding and Sublimation Process for Fabrication of Controlled Fragmentation Tungsten Warheads

Tungsten (W) has been considered for warhead applications as it has a high density, potentially resulting increased lethality from small, low drag, high kinetic energy fragments at increased or predictable standoff distances.  Injection molding (IM) is considered to be the low-cost fabrication high production volume approach for production providing features that promote fragmentation without machining.  This study will demonstrate the use of the CPS QuickSetTM Injection Molding (QIM) process for the production of tungsten, and tungsten alloys sintered materials for this application.  CPS will fabricate green bodies of W and W-Cu alloys to be sintered by the University of Utah.  These materials will be evaluated for sinterablity, density, microstructure development, and mechanical properties will be measured and evaluated with respect to warhead application.  This study will explore the mechanical behavior transitions between brittle and ductile fracture as a function of Cu concentration and the influence on fragmentation. A demonstration piece with warhead fragmentation will also be produced using QIM.  The study will also determine the necessity of a pusher plate.