Using Nickel-Tungsten Alloys to Produce Multiple Explosively Formed Penetrator (MEFP) Warheads

Abstract

In an effort to find an alternative to tantalum for use in multiple explosively formed penetrator (MEFP) liners, the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., fabricated, simulated, and tested liner blanks from pure nickel, a two phase tungstennickel- iron alloy, and a single phase nickel-tungsten alloy. Overall, there were two design iterations comprising seven distinct MEFP liner geometries that resulted in 12 experimental warhead tests. The first iteration of testing (five tests) successfully formed single piece MEFP penetrators, except for the nickel-tungsten alloy. The second iteration (seven tests) produced a successful pure nickel MEFP design, but unsuccessful tungsten-nickel alloy designs. Based on the results, it was revealed that the material model had been calibrated incorrectly. The most probable reason for this was that the strength parameters were increased too much. In the future, any MEFP warhead development using these particular alloys should be undertaken only after generating more accurate models for these two materials.