Penetration and Ignition Performance of Reactive Fragments

Abstract

There is an international interest in the use of reactive components to enhance or supplement the performance and reduce the collateral damage of warhead systems. This paper describes a programme of work investigating the use of reactive fragments. Considerable work has been conducted on the use of aluminium and titanium based materials as reactive fragments or constituents of reactive cases. The objectives were the further development of reactive fragments, based on either conventional pyrotechnic materials or hafnium, and their processing techniques to enhance their launch survivability, penetration capability and thermal output. During the task the penetration performance of a series of fragments was assessed experimentally to identify the ballistic limits for these fragments to achieve penetration and initiate a reaction of the material on impact with a target material.