Hybrid Composite Mortar Shell with Interlocking Steel Fragments
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional high explosive mortars face limitations in range, accuracy, and lethality due to their weight and aerodynamic characteristics, with metallic casings leading to inefficient fragmentation and high collateral damage.
Innovation Solution
The use of hybrid composite-based shell structures with a carbon-fiber composite outer layer and a wrought carbon steel or high-strength steel inner layer for controlled or preformed fragmentation, reducing mass and enhancing lethality and range by creating lightweight, aerodynamically shaped fragments with optimized geometry and surface features like dimples for drag reduction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional metallic casings are used for mortar shells, then structural strength and durability are improved, but mass increases reducing range and accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies composite materials by combining carbon fiber reinforcement with polymer matrix to create a shell casing that is both lightweight and structurally strong. This composite construction reduces shell mass while maintaining the mechanical strength required to withstand launch accelerations and provide controlled fragmentation, directly resolving the contradiction between strength and weight.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If preformed fragmentation is implemented in metallic shells, then lethality is improved, but shell integrity is compromised under launch accelerations
Solution Approach 1:
The composite material construction enables preformed fragmentation features to be integrated into the shell without compromising integrity under launch accelerations. The carbon fiber-polymer composite provides the necessary structural support while allowing controlled fragmentation patterns to be formed, resolving the contradiction between lethality and reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-forming fragmentation features during shell manufacturing. The carbon fiber reinforcement allows these preformed features to maintain structural integrity during launch while being designed to fragment controllably upon impact, thereby improving lethality without sacrificing shell reliability during firing.
3Reliability
If conventional metallic fragmentation is used, then structural integrity is maintained, but fragmentation effectiveness is reduced with irregular smaller fragments
Solution Approach 1:
The composite material allows for controlled fragmentation patterns to be formed in the shell casing. The carbon fiber reinforcement enables the creation of larger, more irregularly shaped fragments that maintain structural integrity during launch but provide improved fragmentation effectiveness upon impact, resolving the contradiction between shell integrity and fragmentation effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by creating specific fragmentation zones within the composite shell structure. Different regions of the shell are designed with varying fiber orientations and densities to control fragment size and shape, allowing the shell to maintain overall integrity while producing effective fragmentation patterns in specific areas.
4Duration of action of stationary object
If heavier metallic shells are used, then durability is improved, but range and accuracy are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The carbon fiber-polymer composite construction reduces shell mass while maintaining or improving durability through the high strength-to-weight ratio of carbon fiber reinforcement. This allows extended firing range and improved accuracy without sacrificing service life, directly resolving the contradiction between durability and range.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach significantly increases the range, accuracy, and lethality of mortar rounds by reducing mass, enhancing fragmentation patterns, and minimizing drag, while maintaining structural integrity and reducing collateral damage.
Implementation Method 1
The use of hybrid composite-based shell structures with a carbon-fiber composite outer layer and a wrought carbon steel or high-strength steel inner layer
Implementation Method 2
the lethality of projected fragments and their covered range can be significantly increased by making the fragments lighter, thereby achieving higher expulsion velocities, and more aerodynamically shaped, thereby reducing drag forces acting on the fragments
Implementation Method 3
high explosive fragmentation mortars
Data Source
AI summary
A mortar shell including: a polymer outer layer, the polymer outer layer having reinforcing fibers dispersed therein; and a metallic inner layer defining an interior of the mortar, the metallic inner layer having a plurality of metallic fragments, each of the plurality of metallic fragments having a shape to interlock to each of the other of the plurality of metallic fragments, the plurality of metallic fragments being assembled together into the metallic inner layer; wherein a first metallic fragment of the plurality of metallic fragments having a characteristic different than second metallic fragments surrounding and contacting the first metallic fragment.