The effect of al particle size on thermal decomposition,mechanical strength and sensitivity of Al/ZrH2/PTFE composite

To study the thermal decomposition of Al/ZrH2/PTFE with different Al particle size as well as mechanical strength and impact sensitivity under medium and low strain rates, molding-vacuum sintering was adopted to prepare four groups of power materials and cylindrical specimens with different Al particle size. The active decomposition temperature of ZrH2 was obtained by TG-DSC, and the quasi-static me-chanics/reaction characteristics as well as the impact sensitivity of the specimen were studied respec-tively by quasi-static compression and drop-hammer test. The results show that the yield strength of the material decreased with the increase of the Al particle size, while the compressive strength, failure strain and toughness increased first and then decreased, which reached the maximum values of 116.61 MPa, 191％, and 119.9 MJ/m respectively when the Al particle size is 12—14μm because of particle size grading. The specimens with the highest strength and toughness formed circumferential open cracks and reacted partly when pressed. Those with developmental cracks formed inside did not react. It is considered that fracture of specimens first triggered initial reaction between Al and PTFE to release an amount of heat. Then ZrH2 was activated and decomposed, and participated in subsequent reaction to generate ZrC. The impact sensitivity of the specimens decreased with the increase of Al particle size.     

Partial penetration of annular grooved projectiles impacting ductile metal targets

Changing and optimizing the projectile nose shape is an important way to achieve specific ballistic performance. One special ballistic performance is the embedding effect, which can achieve a delayed high-explosive reaction on the target surface. This embedding effect includes a rebound phase that is significantly different from the traditional penetration process. To better study embedment behavior, this study proposed a novel nose shape called an annular grooved projectile and defined its interaction process with the ductile metal plate as partial penetration. Specifically, we conducted a series of low-velocity-ballistic tests in which these steel projectiles were used to strike 16-mm-thick target plates made with 2024-O aluminum alloy. We observed the dynamic evolution characteristics of this aluminum alloy near the impact craters and analyzed these characteristics by corresponding cross-sectional views and numerical simulations. The results indicated that the penetration resistance had a brief decrease that was influenced by its groove structure, but then it increased significantly-that is, the fluctuation of penetration resistance was affected by the irregular nose shape. Moreover, we visualized the distribution of the material in the groove and its inflow process through the rheology lines in microscopic tests and the highlighted mesh lines in simulations. The combination of these phenomena revealed the embed-ment mechanism of the annular grooved projectile and optimized the design of the groove shape to achieve a more firm embedment performance. The embedment was achieved primarily by the target material filled in the groove structure. Therefore, preventing the shear failure that occurred on the filling material was key to achieving this embedding effect.     

A melt-cast Duan-Zhang-Kim mesoscopic reaction rate model and experiment for shock initiation of melt-cast explosives

A melt-cast Duan-Zhang-Kim (DZK) mesoscopic reaction rate model is developed for the shock initiation of melt-cast explosives based on the pore collapse hot-spot ignition mechanism. A series of shock initiation experiments was performed for the Comp B melt-cast explosive to estimate effects of the loading pressure and the particle size of granular explosive component, and the mesoscopic model is validated against the experimental data. Further numerical simulations indicate that the initial density and formula proportion greatly affect the hot-spot ignition of melt-cast explosives.