Metal matrix reactive composite projectiles

Abstract

A method of making a projectile, and the resulting projectile, comprising providing a nose, providing a body, and incorporating within the body incendiary materials mixed into a metal binder, the metal binder comprising a metal or non-steel alloy of density greater than approximately 5 g / cm3 and a melting point of less than approximately 395 degrees C.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]Not Applicable.STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT[0002]Not Applicable.INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC[0003]Not Applicable.COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL[0004]Not Applicable.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0005]1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)[0006]The present invention relates to incendiary and incendiary initiated explosive projectiles.[0007]2. Description of Related Art[0008]A gun is a device that expels solid projectiles at relatively high velocity by using a propellant. The projectile is fired from the gun through the bore of a hollow tube known as the “barrel”. The diameter of the barrel that fires the projectile is typically designated as its caliber, the dimension of which is measured in inches (but may alternately be measured in millimeters). The term “gun” is often used to generally describe all types of projectile-launching devices, but in military nomenclature it refe...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]The present invention is of a method of making a projectile, and the resulting projectile, comprising: providing a nose; providing a body; and incorporating within the body incendiary materials mixed into a metal binder, the binder comprising a metal or metal alloy of density greater than approximately 5 g/cm3 and a melting point of less than approximately 395 degrees C. In the preferred embodiment, the density is between approximately 7.5 and 10.5 g/cm3. The metal binder comprises bismuth, lead, tin, aluminum, magnesium, titanium, gallium, indium, zinc, or alloys thereof, most preferably 52.2% In/45% Sn/1.8% Zn; 58% Bi/42% Sn; 60% Sn/40% Bi; 95% Bi/5% Sn; 55% Ge/45% Al; 63% Sn/37% Pb; 88.3% Al/11.7% Si; 92.5% Al/7.5% Si; and 95% Al/5% Si; zinc alloy UNS

Problems solved by technology

Impact of soft targets by HEI (High Explosive Incendiary) or PIE (Pyrotechnically Initiated Explosive) ammunition will typically not impart sufficient initiation energy to the reactive materials contained within the projectile to cause a reaction, resulting in live unconsumed high explosive ammunition littering the battlefield.

Fuzing and self destruct devices included in ammunition carrying high explosives to actively force an explosive reaction in these projectiles can be unreliable and add a considerable expense to the cost of the ammunition, as well as consume volume that could otherwise contain reactive materials.

Furthermore, the very limited package size associated with incendiary / explosive projectile ammunition combined with the relatively low mass densities of the explosive and incendiary charges result in a less attractive destructive capacity than would be possible with a more optimized design.

Like the smaller caliber guns, artillery projectiles containing incendiary reactive materials are neither particularly structural nor very mass dense.

Images