Nondestructive Inspection of Explosives and Ammunition

Recent advances in energetic material have resulted in the development of several suitable lead-free replacements for conventional lead styphnate and lead azide in munition formulations. The new wave of research has enabled the production of copper(I) 5-nitrotetrazolate (DBX-1) at the gram scale and is currently being qualified as a primary explosive in various applications. However, these lead-free energetic materials could potentially create unexpected corrosive environments for traditional cartridge brass and other munition components. Field testing of ammunition components is therefore critical in future deployments to assure weapon system effectiveness from the ammunition life cycle perspective, i.e., the time of production to the time of expenditure. Many field techniques are currently subject to a visual inspection of the small arms ammunition but recent advances in non-destructive metallurgical and material analysis allows for this inspection to be more analytically robust and time effective. Lynntech in collaboration with the Sensor Systems and NDE Technology Section at Southwest Research Institute proposes to develop a handheld device based on Eddy current and ultrasonic testing for quickly perform non-destructive corrosion testing of small arms ammunition components in the field prior to use by the warfighter or during the development of new energetic materials.