Propellants Explosives Pyrotechnics, Vol.32, No.4, 307-313, 2007
Reactive-injecting follow-through shaped charges from sequent-material conical liners
Shaped charges using reactive-metal liners have the potential for beyond-penetration effects, e.g. thermodynamic events that increase pressure in a volume adjacent to the penetration. Shaped charge liners made from a copper penetrating- and an aluminum reactive-component in a sequent-material configuration were compared in tests to baseline homogeneous copper liners. Copper lined shaped charges had greater mild steel penetration performance, but lacked beyond-penetration pressurization effects exhibited by the sequent-material lined units. Jet capture experiments, beyond-penetration constant-volume tests, and thermo-chemical equilibrium calculations provide evidence supporting the aluminum slug comminution into unoxidized reactive fuel, augmenting beyond-penetration effects.