Patent Application
20140360635
N.A.
1. Field
Disclosed herein is method to manufacture a fragmenting material and the material so produced. More particularly, a composite material has metal fragments bonded together by a reactive metal, such as by sintering.
2. Description of the Related Art
The military has a need for devices that can be deployed from a safe distance and distribute a lethal cloud of fast-moving fragments on detonation. One such application is the nose cone of a fragmenting warhead. One such nose cone is a composite material having pre-defined shapes blended with a powder. The mixture is then compacted and sintered. This process is disclosed in United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2011/0064600 A1, titled “Co-Sintered Multi-System Tungsten Alloy Composite,” by Brent et al. Another sintered product disclosed as useful for the liner of a shaped charge liner is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,921,778, titled “Single. Phase Tungsten Alloy for Shaped Charge Liner,” by Stowovy. Both US 2011/0064600 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,921,778 are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
Disclosed herein is a method for the manufacture of a composite fragmenting material having exothermic properties that
includes the steps of packing a mold with preformed metal fragments; filling interstitial spaces surrounding the metal fragments with a reactive metal powder to form a mixture; and then sintering the mixture at a temperature effective to both coat the metal fragments with the reactive metal powder and to bond the metal fragments together.
The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.
Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicated like elements.
Disclosed herein is a method for manufacturing a fragment array with a reactive material coating. The fragments, which can be steel, tantalum, tungsten, tungsten heavy alloy, or a number of other materials, are loaded into a container, such as a ceramic sleeve or sagger. The fragments are densely packed based on their shape such as spheres, hexes, cubes or other manufacturable shapes. Typically, these fragments have a longest length (measured along an axis or diameter dependent on shape) of between 0.05 inch and 0.5 inch. The fragments can be preformed before insertion into the container by any suitable process, such as casting, sintering or machining. Suitable materials for the container are high temperature materials that are non-reactive with the reactive materials described below. Exemplary materials for the contained include alumina, mullite and ceramic fiber board.
Once packed in the container a reactive metal powder is mixed in and around the fragments. By reactive, it is meant a material that is exothermic on fragmentation of the warhead. Typically this will be a pyrophoric material that reacts with oxygen. The reactive material can be but is not limited to zirconium or a zirconium-base alloy. Other suitable reactive materials include niobium, hafnium, aluminum, titanium, magnesium and alloys containing more than 50%, by weight, of those metals. The reactive powder has a size from nanometers up to about 50 microns.
The container with the fragments and reactive material are then subjected to a high temperature sinter cycle whereby the reactive material coats the fragments and bonds them together to retain the shape of the container. While at temperature, the sintering is preferably under a vacuum of from about 10−3 torr to 10−6 torr, although an inert atmosphere could also be employed.
It was found that by making a mold material in a given shape such as right circular cylinder, ring, curved or flat plate or any other shape that could be thought of (see
The material is then placed in a furnace, be it an atmosphere or vacuum depending on the material to be sintered. The part is then heated to a point that is high enough to promote bonding of the reactive fill material with the fragments. One example would be the tungsten heavy alloy spheres with zirconium. In this example the filled molds are sintered in the temperature range of between 300° C. and 1600° C. and preferably at a temperature range of between 1200° C. to 1500° C. Once the sinter cycle is complete the bonded shape can be removed from the mold. The result is fragments that are bonded by a reactive material into a specific shape (
The process and products disclosed herein are demonstrated by the following Example. A combination of tungsten heavy alloy (WHA) spheres and zirconium metal was formed. 41 spheres were placed in an alumina tube having an opening that measured 1 inch long by 0.5 inch. The result was a 55% packing factor for the spheres. Then 2.6 grams of zirconium powder was shaken into the same alumina tube so that the zirconium powder surrounded the spheres and filled the interstitial vacancies. The assembly was then sintered under high vacuum (approx. 10−6 torr) to a temperature of 1250° C. The resultant composite was a free standing right circular cylinder of WHA spheres that were bonded and coated with zirconium.
The composite was then placed in a vented enclosure and a nichrome element wire was attached to increase the heat of the assembly. The nichrome element was electrified to increase the temperature of the composite to emulate the heat and energy that would be seen on detonation of a warhead. The fragmentation pack reacted to the increase of heat with an exothermic reaction and pyrophoric behavior.
One or more embodiments of the present invention have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.
This patent application claims a benefit to the filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/788,608 titled “Method for Producing a Fragment/Reactive Material Assembly.” The disclosure of that provisional patent application is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61788608 | Mar 2013 | US |
