Research on the influences of confining pressure and strain rate on NEPE propellant: Experimental assessment and constitutive model

In order to study the influences of confining pressure and strain rate on the mechanical properties of the Nitrate Ester Plasticized Polyether (NEPE) propellant, uniaxial tensile tests were conducted using the self-made confining pressure system and material testing machine. The stress-strain responses of the NEPE propellant under different confining pressure conditions and strain rates were obtained and analyzed. The results show that confining pressure and strain rate have a remarkably influence on the mechanical responses of the NEPE propellant. As confining pressure increases (from 0 to 5.4 MPa), the maximum tensile stress and ultimate strain increase gradually. With the coupled effects of confining pressure and strain rate, the value of the maximum tensile stress and ultimate strain at 5.4 MPa and 0.0667 s⁻¹ is 2.03 times and 2.19 times of their values under 0 MPa and 0.00333 s⁻¹, respectively. Afterwards, the influence mechanism of confining pressure on the NEPE propellant was analyzed. Finally, based on the viscoelastic theory and continuous damage theory, a nonlinear constitutive model considering confining pressure and strain rate was developed. The damage was considered to be rate-dependent and pressure-dependent. The constitutive model was validated by comparing experimental data with predictions of the constitutive model. The whole maximum stress errors of the model predictions are lower than 4% and the corresponding strain errors are lower than 7%. The results show that confining pressure can suppress the damage initiation and evolution of the NEPE propellant and the nonlinear constitutive model can describe the mechanical responses of the NEPE propellant under various confining pressure conditions and strain rates. This research can lay a theoretical foundation for analyzing the structural integrity of propellant grain accurately under working pressure loading.     

Maneuvering target tracking of UAV based on MN-DDPG and transfer learning

Tracking maneuvering target in real time autonomously and accurately in an uncertain environment is one of the challenging missions for unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs).In this paper,aiming to address the control problem of maneuvering target tracking and obstacle avoidance,an online path planning approach for UAV is developed based on deep reinforcement learning.Through end-to-end learning powered by neural networks,the proposed approach can achieve the perception of the environment and continuous motion output control.This proposed approach includes:(1)A deep deterministic policy gradient(DDPG)-based control framework to provide learning and autonomous decision-making capa-bility for UAVs;(2)An improved method named MN-DDPG for introducing a type of mixed noises to assist UAV with exploring stochastic strategies for online optimal planning;and(3)An algorithm of task-decomposition and pre-training for efficient transfer learning to improve the generalization capability of UAV's control model built based on MN-DDPG.The experimental simulation results have verified that the proposed approach can achieve good self-adaptive adjustment of UAV's flight attitude in the tasks of maneuvering target tracking with a significant improvement in generalization capability and training efficiency of UAV tracking controller in uncertain environments.     

Investigation on the process parameters of TIG-welded aluminum alloy through mechanical and microstructural characterization

Multi-pass TIG welding was conducted on plates (15×300×180 mm3) of aluminum alloy Al-5083 that usually serves as the component material in structural applications such as cryogenics and chemical processing industries. Porosity formation and solidification cracking are the most common defects when TIG welding Al-5083 alloy, which is sensitive to the welding heat input. In the experiment, the heat input was varied from 0.89 kJ/mm to 5 kJ/mm designed by the combination of welding torch travel speed and welding current. Tensile, micro-Vicker hardness and Charpy impact tests were executed to witness the impetus response of heat input on the mechanical properties of the joints. Radiographic inspection was performed to assess the joint's quality and welding defects. The results show that all the specimens displayed inferior mechanical properties as compared to the base alloy. It was established that porosity was progressively abridged by the increase of heat input. The results also clinched that the use of me-dium heat input (1-2 kJ/mm) offered the best mechanical properties by eradicating welding defects, in which only about 18.26% of strength was lost. The yield strength of all the welded specimens remained unaffected indicated no influence of heat input. Partially melted zone (PMZ) width also affected by heat input, which became widened with the increase of heat input. The grain size of PMZ was found to be coarser than the respective grain size in the fusion zone. Charpy impact testing revealed that the absorbed energy by low heat input specimen (welded at high speed) was greater than that of high heat input (welded at low speed) because of low porosity and the formation of equiaxed grains which induce better impact toughness. Cryogenic (-196 C) impact testing was also performed and the results corroborate that impact properties under the cryogenic environment revealed no appreciable change after welding at designated heat input. Finally, Macro and micro fractured surfaces of tensile and impact specimens were analyzed using Stereo and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), which have supported the experimental findings.     

The mechanism of liquid dispersing from a cylinder driven by central dynamic shock loading

A systematic investigation on the mechanism of dynamic liquid dispersing process via theoretical and experimental approach is presented. The experiments include weak and strong constrained scenarios using the high-speed camera technique and the flash X-ray radiography technique. Based on dynamic analysis, one-dimensional characteristics analysis and some numerical simulations on the propagating processes of blast waves before the container shell rupturing, further and detailed analyses of the experimental results are presented. The effects of the liquid viscosity on the dynamic dispersing flow are also analyzed, and the spall fracture mechanism is explored. Thus, the dominating forces determining the dispersing liquid flow are revealed, that is, the stretching and shearing action due to the interaction of two reflecting rarefaction waves in opposite propagating directions. The influence of container shell strength on the dispersing liquid flow is also investigated, and the characters of cavitation layered in liquid before shell rupturing are uncovered. Results revealed that different shell material results in different cavitating layers. Then the different cavitating layers drive the different dynamic liquid dispersing process coming into being. The metastable liquid states caused by pressure drop and cavi-tation generation are discussed.     

An experiment evaluating how the tiny mass eccentricities in spin-stabilized projectiles affect the position of impact points

This study investigates and quantifies some possible sources affecting the position of impact points of small caliber spin-stabilized projectiles (such as 12.7 mm bullets). A comparative experiment utilizing the control variable method was designed to figure out the influence of tiny eccentric centroids on the projectiles. The study critically analyzes data obtained from characteristic parameter measurements and precision trials. It also combines Sobol's algorithm with an artificial intelligence algorithm—Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference Systems (ANFIS)—in order to conduct global sensitivity analysis and determine which parameters were most influential. The results indicate that the impact points of projectiles with an entry angle of 0° deflected to the left to that of projectiles with an entry angle of 90°. The difference of the mean coordinates of impact points was about 12.61 cm at a target range of 200 m. Variance analysis indicated that the entry angle — i.e. the initial position of mass eccentricity — had a notable influence. After global sensitivity analysis, the significance of the effect of mass eccentricity was confirmed again and the most influential factors were determined to be the axial moment and transverse moment of inertia (Izz Iyy), the mass of a projectile (m), the distance between nose and center of mass along the symmetry axis for a projectile (Lm), and the eccentric distance of the centroid (Lr). The results imply that the control scheme by means of modifying mass center (moving mass or mass eccentricity) is promising for designing small-caliber spin-stabilized projectiles.     

Insensitive energetic microspheres DAAF/RDX fabricated by facile molecular self-assembly

Insensitive energetic materials are promising in the defense weapons field. However, energetic materials still suffer from great challenges and the concern about their safety limits their utilization. In this work, insensitive energetic explosive 3,3′-diamino-4,4′-azoxyfurazan/hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (DAAF/RDX) microspheres were fabricated by self-assembly method. Rod-like DAAF/RDX was prepared by mechanical ball milling for comparison. DAAF/RDX composites with different mass ratios (90:10, 80:20, and 70:30) were obtained. The morphologies and structures of as-obtained DAAF/RDX composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), powder x-ray diffraction (PXRD) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The results showed that DAAF/RDX microspheres exhibited regular shaped microspheres with sizes from 0.5 to 1.2 μm. There was no crystal transition during the modification process. The thermal properties of as-obtained materials were then evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and materials studio software. DAAF/RDX microspheres showed an advanced decomposition peak temperature compared with rod-like DAAF/RDX. The binding energy and peak temperature values at zero β_i (T_P0) of DAAF/RDX (90:10) increased by 36.77 kJ/mol, 1.6 °C, and 58.11 kJ/mol, 12.3 °C compared to DAAF/RDX (80:20) and DAAF/RDX (70:30), indicating the better thermal stability of DAAF/RDX (90:10). The characteristic drop height (H₅₀) of DAAF/RDX (higher than 100 cm) composites was higher than that of raw RDX (25 cm), suggesting significant improvements in mechanical safety. The preparation of DAAF/RDX microspheres is promising for the desensitization of RDX and useful for the formation of other materials and future wide applications.     

Bidirectional parallel multi-branch convolution feature pyramid network for target detection in aerial images of swarm UAVs

In this paper, based on a bidirectional parallel multi-branch feature pyramid network (BPMFPN), a novel one-stage object detector called BPMFPN Det is proposed for real-time detection of ground multi-scale targets by swarm unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). First, the bidirectional parallel multi-branch convolution modules are used to construct the feature pyramid to enhance the feature expression abilities of different scale feature layers. Next, the feature pyramid is integrated into the single-stage object detection framework to ensure real-time performance. In order to validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, experiments are conducted on four datasets. For the PASCAL VOC dataset, the proposed algorithm achieves the mean average precision (mAP) of 85.4 on the VOC 2007 test set. With regard to the detection in optical remote sensing (DIOR) dataset, the proposed algorithm achieves 73.9 mAP. For vehicle detection in aerial imagery (VEDAI) dataset, the detection accuracy of small land vehicle (slv) targets reaches 97.4 mAP. For unmanned aerial vehicle detection and tracking (UAVDT) dataset, the proposed BPMFPN Det achieves the mAP of 48.75. Compared with the previous state-of-the-art methods, the results obtained by the proposed algorithm are more competitive. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can effectively solve the problem of real-time detection of ground multi-scale targets in aerial images of swarm UAVs.     

Preparation and characterization of HMX/EVA/hBNNSs micro-composites with improved thermal stability and reduced sensitivity

Hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets(HBNNSs)have huge potential in the field of coating materials owing to their remarkable chemical stability,mechanical strength and thermal conductivity.Thin-layer hBNNSs were obtained by a liquid-phase exfoliation of h-BN powders and incorporated into EVA coatings for improving the safety performance of 1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocane(HMX).HBNNSs and ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer(EVA)were introduced to HMX by a solvent-slurry process.For com-parison,the HMX/EVA and HMX/EVA/graphene(HMX/EVA/G)composites were also prepared by a similar process.The morphology,crystal form,surface element distribution,thermal decomposition property and impact sensitivity of HMX/EVA/hBNNSs composites were contrastively investigated.Results showed that as prepared HMX/EVA/hBNNSs composites were well coated with hBNNSs and EVA,and exhibited better thermal stability and lower impact sensitivity than that of HMX/EVA and HMX/EVA/G composites,suggesting superior performance of desensitization of hBNNSs in explosives.     

世界各国高超声速武器发展现状

高超声速武器是高技术武器装备,也是当今世界主要国家尤其是军事大国武器装备发展的重点。在这一领域,美国的发展独占鳌头,在高超声速导弹、高超声速飞机和空天飞机等方面研究拥有较强优势,并提出了全方位高超声速武器和先进航天器研制计划。其他国家,如俄罗斯、法国、日本以及印度等国也都积极开展高超声速武器装备的研究。     

论新时期军队思想政治建设的基本规律

必须把思想政治建设摆在全军各项建设的首位,是新时期军队思想政治建设的基本规律。作为基本规律,它有着重要的理论依据、历史依据和现实依据。从根本上说,它由我军的性质职能和思想政治建设的重要地位决定,从而科学揭示了军队思想政治建设和军队建设中的重大关系及其内在联系。