Formable Reactive Metal Composites with Tailorable Energy Release Properties

MATSYS proposes to develop a novel generation of formable reactive materials (FRMs) offering a tailorable energy density to enhance the performance of DoD systems. Reactive materials offer unique opportunities to increase the overall energetic output of munitions by replacing inert structural materials. Using a powder metallurgy (PM) approach, MATSYS has developed numerous low- and high-density materials that exhibited high energy release and performed very well in field testing. These RMs are mostly metal based and are prepared from a blend of fine metal powders. The blend consists of “hard” material and “soft” material. The ratio of hard to soft material is selected such that the blend can be consolidated to near full density below the reaction initiation temperature of the constituents. We plan to control the soft (binder) material content as well as the type of binder to enable to increase the ductility and, as such, the formability of the bulk material. Our approach will combine our expertise in multi-component composite design and high energy milling of powder blends with our unique expertise in powder consolidation to develop a next generation of tunable FRMs. The existence of different materials will allow for tailoring of the composition to meet the requirements.