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Wembley
February 18th, 2004, 03:40 AM
I read recently that the Pentagon are researching explosives using heavy metal additives, including tungsten.

Does anyone have any idea what this might be aiming to achieve? I can't find any references that might explain how this would improve an explosive. :confused:

JoeJablomy
February 18th, 2004, 04:20 AM
Maybe to increase density and VOD? I don't know.
I've heard that some of the newer delay comps use tungsten, maybe as a catalyst or a stabilizer? I think they're fluoropolymer based and are supposed to have longer shelf life than the older stuff. I think this was for grenade fuzes.

Wembley
February 18th, 2004, 10:18 AM
I was wondering about density, as it is an issue for penetrating bombs, though I would have thought it would be as easy to put in a few chunks of tungsten as to come up with a mixture which might affect the explosive's properties.

I also wondered about DU, which might be oxisided in an explosion and generate more energy? Are there any other reactive dense metals?

Bert
February 18th, 2004, 12:22 PM
I've heard that some of the newer delay comps use tungsten, maybe as a catalyst or a stabilizer?.

These ingredients are geared towards creating a gasless delay train. In a sealed unit such as an artillery shell, you don't want your delay train generating gasses and pressurizing the unit internally as they "burn".

Typical constituents of such a mix would include Tungsten as a powdered metal, Barium chromate, Potassium perchlorate and diatomaceous earth (silica).

tom haggen
February 18th, 2004, 01:14 PM
I know the military has been using tungsten rods as anti tank weapons.
They put them in a magnetic accelerater, kind of like a mag-lev train, and launch these tungsten projectiles at super-sonic speeds. It goes thru a tank like hot knife thru butter. These are some of the newest technologies being used by the U.S. government. Same with the lasers they're developing for antimissile warfare.

Wembley
February 18th, 2004, 02:50 PM
There have been some (partially successful) moves to replace DU with an amorphous form of tungsten, but the 'electric gun' concept has been shelved for the time being because of performance issues though electric ignition is on the way.

Other nations use tungsten rather than DU, and I have seen claims that there is little real difference in performance.

However, this was very specifically about new types of explosive.

cutefix
February 18th, 2004, 05:43 PM
I think what you are looking for is the so called energy dense explosives.
The purpose or adding such heavy and dense metal is to:
Increase blast and fragmentation energy as well as target penetration.
During the recent gulf war the development of the JDAM type of hard target penetrator using the explosive AFX-757 was rated to be the most powerful explosive for such application providing twice more energy than the normal aluminized explosives.
It was found out that incorporating heavy metals could further improve its performance.
For additional information you could check with patent titled
Energy Dense Explosives in particular US patent 6,679,960

Wembley
February 19th, 2004, 03:46 AM
Brilliant - yes that looks like exactly the thing.
(Incidentally, JDAM is just the guidance kit, I suspect the warhead would be a BLU-109, BLU-116 or similar...)

cutefix
February 19th, 2004, 07:46 PM
Brilliant - yes that looks like exactly the thing.
(Incidentally, JDAM is just the guidance kit, I suspect the warhead would be a BLU-109, BLU-116 or similar...)

Yeah you are right…
But is should be theJASSM warhead which was using the AFX-757 and not the JDAM ( which I erroneously misnamed before) as the latter uses the BLU-109/BLU-116 warhead which are related to the Mk-82 and Mk-84 general purpose bomb.

But (if you will notice)as the sequence of warhead filler development started with the TNT based filler.(Minol TNT/Al/AN) which is not storage stable and prone to "cook off."
Which later evolved to tritonal (80/20 TNT/aluminum) which was proven stable to such requirement and was later superseded with PBXN-109(64%RDX/20 aluminum/16 HTTB type binder) for more power .Later it was replaced with AFX-757(25%RDX/30% ammonium perchlorate/33%aluminum/ the remaining 12% is the binder/plasticiser/crosslinker/stabilizer composite).
Meanwhile the energy dense explosive containing more metals was designed for more energy increase. By adding a related thermite composition(Zirconium oxide/aluminum or copper oxide/ aluminum) to the normal explosive filler in the PBXN-109 type which will result in dramatic improvement of explosive performance.
But at such reduced main explosive component RDX it will result in lesser detonation wave but more lasting blast effect. I think such weapon is more for specialized purpose and not for general use.

Wembley
February 20th, 2004, 04:04 AM
Absolutely. This is specifically geared towards high-blast warheads, and in that sense overlaps with thermobaric munitions. This type of warhead is intended for use against structures and cabe and tunnel complexes - the low overpressure/long duration blast proprgates far more effectively underground, when shrapnel effects are in any case insignificant.

One intriguing aspect of the patent is the mention of DU as an explosive component. I suspect we will be hearing more about this...