Energetic Materials (EM)
Abstract
The goals of this technical focus area are to develop new Energetic Materials (Ems) and supporting technologies to satisfy the competing requirements for smaller, more lethal, and safer munitions. Work is primarily focused on explosives, gun and rocket propellants, and, to a lesser extent, pyrotechnics. The projects include development of: 1) new EMs, including new molecules in a range of particle sizes and morphologies, 2) new EM formulations, 3) a fundamental understanding of energetic properties and performance, and 4) computational tools for analysis of performance and sensitivity. New materials and formulations are developed with the recognition that costs must be reasonable, chemical feed stocks reliable, and manufacturing processes suitable for scale-up to production levels. Both Federal statute and Department policy direct the development of safer, less sensitive munitions. Making munitions less sensitive while maintaining explosive or propellant performance is a difficult challenge. This goal is best attained through a combination of new EM development, EM characterization, and more sophisticated modeling and simulation tools. It is cost prohibitive to qualify weapons for compliance with insensitive munitions requirements through testing alone. A better, and in many cases the only means, to qualify these weapons is with the combination of analysis based on validated computational tools and a few well-designed tests. The Department also needs munitions that provide selectable effects. To achieve these effects, weapons designers need to thoroughly understand the performance of EMs used in both the main weapon fill and the initiation systems. Distributed fuzing systems can provide selectable effects as well as safer munitions, but such complex, small-scale systems require more complete knowledge of EM detonation physics and in some cases, new EMs designed for this application. The desire for smaller and lighter munitions is driven in part by the increasing dependence on unmanned weapons platforms and to some extent by the need to reduce logistical burden, especially energy consumption. New EMs are needed to meet the munitions weight and size requirements while maintaining lethality, effects, and safety. The Department is working to increase the range and velocity of weapons and to develop weapons against hardened targets. These applications subject EMs to high accelerations and shock loads. To support the development of these new systems, we need to improve our ability to model EM under higher impact loads and to characterize relevant properties to determine their ability to survive in these aggressive environments. DoD may also need to develop new, more robust EMs that survive impact loads while maintaining lethality and initiability. TCG-III is also a forum for the exchange of information on new energetic materials, their performance and sensitivity characteristics, and physical models that can be used to predict the behavior of energetics under adverse and unplanned conditions. It is a venue in which collaboration opportunities can be identified to facilitate the transition of technology developed in the DOE to the DoD. The specific projects in the energetic materials technical focus area for FY16 are: - Synthesis, properties, and scale-up of new energetic compounds. - Insensitive munitions and surety. - Cheetah thermochemical code development and experiments. - Micro- and nano-energetics synthesis and initiation. - Hazards analysis of energetic materials. - Reactive processes in energetic materials. - Development of tools for energetic material performance characterization. - Explosives chemistry and properties, and new energetic materials formulation. - Thermal response of energetic materials.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2017
- Source ID
- 08f8321e134db3829639ec4b2ce28a52