Development and Evaluation of Nonmetallic Materials for Belt Links
Abstract
Selected plastic and elastoplastic materials were investigated for potential use as small arms and aircraft armament belt links. In this study only castable materials were evaluated because of the ease of chemical modification and simplicity of molding into links. A 7.62mm, M13 link, was used as a model to cast prototype links. Two types of epoxy resins with high tensile strength and low elongation were selected as the best available base materials to modify for links. The epoxy closed loop link was found to have more than twice the tensile strength of the open-loop steel control link in the belted configuration. Plastic links did not corrode and leave rust scale deposits on cartridge cases as found on steel linked cases after the water immersion test. The epoxy links maintained approximately 70 percent of their tensile strength after a 200 hour accelerated aging test in the Weather-Ometer. The epoxy material reduced the link weight by 30 percent when compared to the current M13 steel link.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1974
- Accession Number
- ADB010516
Entities
People
- Thomas J. Koehler