Enhanced structural damage behavior of liquid-filled tank by reactive material projectile impact

A series of ballistic experiments were performed to investigate the damage behavior of high velocity reactive material projectiles(RMPs) impacting liquid-filled tanks,and the corresponding hydrodynamic ram(HRAM) was studied in detail.PTFE/Al/W RMPs with steel-like and aluminum-like densities were prepared by a pressing/sintering process.The projectiles impacted a liquid-filled steel tank with front aluminum panel at approximately 1250 m/s.The corresponding cavity evolution characteristics and HRAM pressure were recorded by high-speed camera and pressure acquisition system,and further compared to those of steel and aluminum projectiles.Significantly different from the conical cavity formed by the inert metal projectile,the cavity formed by the RMP appeared as an ellipsoid with a conical front.The RMPs were demonstrated to enhance the radial growth velocity of cavity,the global HRAM pressure amplitude and the front panel damage,indicating the enhanced HRAM and structural damage behavior.Furthermore,combining the impact-induced fragmentation and deflagration characteristics,the cavity evolution of RMPs under the combined effect of kinetic energy impact and chemical energy release was analyzed.The mechanism of enhanced HRAM pressure induced by the RMPs was further revealed based on the theoretical model of the initial impact wave and the impulse analysis.Finally,the linear correlation between the deformation-thickness ratio and the non-dimensional impulse for the front panel was obtained and analyzed.It was determined that the enhanced near-field impulse induced by the RMPs was the dominant reason for the enhanced structural damage behavior.

Behind-plate overpressure effect of steel-encased reactive material projectile impacting thin aluminum plate

Ballistic impact and sealed chamber tests were performed on the steel-encased reactive material projectile(SERMP)to understand its behind-plate overpressure effect when impacting the thin aluminum plates.The reactive material encased with a 1.5 mm thick 30CrMnSiNi2A steel shell was launched onto the initially sealed test chamber with a 3 mm thick 2024-T3 thin aluminum cover plate.Moreover,the overpressure signals in the test chamber were recorded by pressure sensors.The experimental results indicate an unusual behind-plate overpressure effect:as the density of the projectile increases from 6.43 g/cm^(3) to 7.58 g/cm^(3) by increasing the content of tungsten powder,although its total chemical energy decreases,it produces a higher behind-target overpressure at a lower impact velocity.A theoretical model is proposed to predict the reaction length of reactive material inside the projectile based on one-dimensional shock wave theory to understand this unexpected result.In addition,the deviation between the actual energy release and the theoretical calculation results,also the variation of overpressure rise time are analyzed and discussed.As the analyses show,when the SERMP successfully penetrates the cover plate,an increasing density of the reactive material inside the projectile always means that the delaying rarefaction wave effect,an increase of its internal pressure and strain rate levels.These factors lead to the increase of the overpressure limit velocity and reaction extent of the reactive material,while the overpressure rise time decreases.

Experimental investigation on enhanced damage to fuel tanks by reactive projectiles impact

Enhanced damage to the full-filled fuel tank,impacted by the cold pressed and sintered PTFE/Al/W reactive material projectile(RMP)with a density of 7.8 g/cm3,is investigated experimentally and theoretically.The fuel tank is a rectangular structure,welded by six pieces of 2024 aluminum plate with a thickness of 6 mm,and filled with RP-3 aviation kerosene.Experimental results show that the kerosene is ignited by the RMP impact at a velocity above 1062 m/s,and a novel interior ignition phenomenon which is closely related to the rupture effect of the fuel tank is observed.However,the traditional steel projectile with the same mass and dimension requires a velocity up to 1649 m/s to ignite the kerosene.Based on the experimental results,the radial pressure field is considered to be the main reason for the shear failure of weld.For mechanism considerations,the chemical energy released by the RMP enhances the hydrodynamic ram(HRAM)effect and provides additional ignition sources inside the fuel tank,thereby enhancing both rupture and ignition effects.Moreover,to further understand the enhanced ignition effect of RMP,the reactive debris temperature inside the kerosene is analyzed theoretically.The initiated reactive debris with high temperature provides effective interior ignition sources to ignite the kerosene,resulting in the enhanced ignition of the kerosene.