Plated Hollow-Point Bullet With Segmented Petals for Barrier Expansion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional bullets face challenges in achieving reliable expansion, weight retention, and optimal penetration due to the oppositional relationships between these factors, especially when encountering intermediate barrier materials like automobile glass, leading to under-penetration and over-penetration issues.
Innovation Solution
A fully plated expanding bullet design featuring a malleable core completely surrounded by a bonded metal jacket with individually plated, circumferentially spaced petals at the nose end, which allows for easier and faster expansion and retains 100% of its mass upon impact, as the plated petals protect the core from weight loss during collision with barrier materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a bullet is designed to expand reliably on impact, then expansion performance is improved, but penetration depth is reduced due to loss of bullet mass
Solution Approach 1:
The bullet core is divided into multiple segmented petals that are separated by air spaces, allowing each petal to expand independently upon impact. This segmentation enables reliable expansion while maintaining overall structural integrity and weight retention, as the petals fold outward in a controlled manner rather than disintegrating.
Solution Approach 2:
The metal jacket is applied in a nested manner, completely encapsulating the segmented core petals and the air spaces between them. This nested structure protects the core segments during transit and ensures that the jacket remains intact during penetration, preventing premature expansion while enabling controlled expansion at the target.
2Loss of substance
If a bullet maintains high weight retention, then penetration capability is improved, but expansion performance is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The segmented petal design allows the core to expand through controlled folding of pre-separated segments rather than requiring the entire core to deform simultaneously. This reduces the stress on the jacket and minimizes jacket rupture, thereby retaining more bullet weight while achieving reliable expansion.
Solution Approach 2:
The core is pre-segmented into petals with air spaces between them before the bullet is fired. This preliminary segmentation prepares the core for expansion, reducing the energy required for expansion and minimizing damage to the jacket, thus preserving bullet weight while ensuring expansion reliability.
3Length of moving object
If a bullet encounters intermediate barrier materials, then penetration through barriers is improved, but expansion performance is reduced due to plugging or weight loss
Solution Approach 1:
The segmented petal structure allows the bullet to maintain its integrity when encountering barrier materials. The air spaces between petals reduce friction and prevent plugging, allowing the bullet to penetrate barriers effectively. Upon exiting the barrier, the petals can still expand reliably as the segmentation prevents material from blocking the expansion chambers.
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
The bullet achieves consistent and effective penetration through FBI barrier materials with enhanced expansion characteristics and weight retention, improving terminal ballistics and scoring in ammunition tests.
Implementation Method 1
The plating is applied to the core on a molecular level using the process of 'electrodeposition'. Electrodeposition is a metal deposition process in which positively charged metal ions in a chemical solution migrate under the influence of an electric field and are subsequently deposited over time onto the surface of an object
Implementation Method 2
a malleable core completely surrounded by a bonded metal jacket. The core is made of a malleable material of a first hardness... each of the petals is independently bendable
Data Source
AI summary
A fully plated hollow-point bullet and a method of manufacturing the bullet wherein a malleable metal precursor core having a central cavity and a surrounding wall is divided into a series of petals, each petal being separated from one another by an air space, and all interior and exterior surfaces of the precursor core, including individual petals, are thereafter electroplated with a second metal and final formed in a hollow-point pointing die, ultimately producing a more robust bullet and one that expands easier and faster on impact than plated bullets of conventional manufacture.