Explosively Formed Projectile Technology

The concept of explosively forming a coherent aerodynamically stable projectile and projecting it with very high velocity is one of the novel anti-armour warhead technologies that are underway to meet superior performance requirements. The ultimate goal of any future system employing an Explosively Formed Penetrator EFP! is to defeat the most difficult target at the longest standoff. Early Published literature indicates that this concept was demonstrated as early as "#$% by &.'.'ood ( )is*nay in "#++ and ,chardin in "#-%.The liners used by them were typically spherical in geometry having constant thic.ness. This constant thic.ness did not wor. well at long stand off as the projectile fractured at a meter or two from the warhead. /erman Etal and /eld investigated wide angled varying thic.ness conical liners to over come these shortcomings. Post "#01 era saw considerable activity ta.ing place in this technology area due to (a) The success of hydrocode simulation technique to optimi*e EFP warhead. (b) The progress in high precision 232 manufacturing technique (c) 4 number of system concepts sponsored by 5, 4rmy ( 5, 4ir force that used sensor fu*ed warheads based on EFP Technology. The first gave designers the ability to achieve improved EFP shapes rapidly. The second allowed complex liner shapes to be made with precision while the third ie the system projects gave the necessary system requirements6 logistics and funds. 7uring the last decade there have been tremendous advances in sensor and electronic technology. ,mart munitions top attac.! utili*ing these technologies are being fielded by munitions designers as attac.ing the top appears to be the only logical solution in defeating modern over fortified )8Ts. &oc.ets and missiles are nowadays being updated with EFP warheads for attac.ing the armour in their fly over shoot down mode. 7esigning of EFP warheads in spherical and flat cone geometry have been attempted by several wor.ers. 3otable among them are the wor.s of 9ronman6/eld6 9arpp6 /ermann6 &anders Pehrson 8erus6 8ender6 2arleone6 ,inger and :ohnson. They have reported that it is possible to form all practicable shapes long rods6 finned EFPs etc! by varying contour and thic.ness profile of the metal liner. ;nly scanty information is available in the open literature about wor. done in parabolic geometry. 'ieman and 2owor.ers have carried out a detailed study in low carbon steel 4&)2; <&;3! liners in spherical geometry to study the effect of radial confinement and grain si*e by varying casing thic.ness and grain si*e. From their experiments they have shown that grain si*e and radial confinement thic.ness influences the geometry = length = velocity of the projectile. 4ll metals and alloys having very good dynamic ductility qualify to be a EFP liner material. There are several liner materials li.e copper of different grades6 >ow carbon

steel alloys 4&)2; <&;3!6 Tungsten alloys6 7epleted uranium Tantalum etc that can be considered based on the above yard stic.. <n the mid-"#?1@s6 Tantalum became the predominant liner material used for Explosively Formed Penetrator EFP! because of its high density and good ductility. ;f late research activities are being carried out with renewed interest in using low cost materials6 such as 2opper6 ,ilver and <ron6 for EFP warhead application. <n open forums6 such as the <nternational 8allistics ,ymposium6 several investigators have presented data on EFP designs6 using Tantalum6 <ron6 silver and 2opper &esearch activities are also being directed towards enhancing the performance by improving liner metallurgy6 refining manufacturing processes and simulation studies. 2rude data reported indicate that it may be possible to form EFPs that are greater than " charge diameter or caliber in length using low cost materials. 5.,. 4rmy 4rmament &esearch6 7evelopment and Engineering 2enter6 has studied the limits in forming very long rod EFPs using lower density materials with very high dynamic ductility. Preliminary results from this study indicate that very long EFPs are achievable using 2opper6 <ron6 or ,ilver. Three decades ago the penetration length of an EFP was about "=$ caliber using copper or iron liners. ,tudies carried out by many wor.ers reveal that around one caliber can be achieved with improvements in crystal structure of the liner material and contour of the liner. /owever the claims are not supported by experimental evidence. Published literature also indicate that this value could be enhanced to ".A caliber by using tantalum liners. The current design activities are centered around either carrying out simulation studies using computer codes such as /E)P 2ode6 4utodyn A7($7 and dyana$7 and then carrying out well diagnosed experiments or by carrying out experiments based on expertise=experience. The /E)P code used during the early stages was developed by >awrence >ivermore >ab. The code uses 3umerical grid representing the initial geometry with material and explosive properties data which are approximated!. The code solves the equation of motion iteratively along with equation of state to determine the deformation of the liner caused by detonation pressure. The thinning of the edge of the liner during the run of the programme reduced the integration time step to small value. For maintaining numerical stability the programme was required to be modified to drop the thinned liner edge at appropriate time to continue the programme. The explosive and its confinement parameters were required to be dropped after the event since the programme assumes that they no longer contribute and the programme is run till the required geometry is obtained. 8ecause of these limitations the code does not capture many of the subtleties associated with the formation of EFP.

45T;7B3 is an explicit analysis tool for modeling non-linear dynamics of solid6 fluid gas and their interactions. <t is an integrated product with the pre processing6 post processing and analysis modules tightly integrated for maximum productivity. <n the optimi*ation phase of EFP6 a proposed design can be modeled in 45T;7B3 A7 ( $7 and results can be correlated with the actual experimental results. Though modeling and simulation studies can minimi*e the number of experiments that are required to be carried out by experimental optimi*ation method it does not capture many of the subtleties associated with EFP formation as it uses data that are approximated. /owever experimental method supported by simulation studies can form a formidable tool in designing EFP warhead. Published literature indicate that new explosive formulations based on "6$6 $trinitroa*etidme T34C! and hexanitro hexa*aisowurt*itane 2>A1! is li.ely to provide greater energetic output than comp8 (>D-"+. /)D=Estane! and this in turn will improve the length of the projectile and it@s velocity of projection. Mechanism The physics and mechanism of EFP formation has been fairly well understood. The liner thic.ness along the axial direction can be viewed as of constant thic.ness. 4ssuming point initiation the detonation front hits the liner at the apex first and the high pressure stays there longer than around the rim where the detonation front arrives later. This is followed by the drop in pressure as the casing begins to blow off. Therefore it is expected that the liner elements around the axis will gain higher axial velocity than those around the rim6 which is the source of stretching velocity. 4t the same time due to initial radius of curvature the liner gains radial inward velocity which is the source for it@s collapse motion.. These combined stretching and collapse motions determines the final geometry of the projectile6 which is illustrated in (Figure 1). The projectile formation can be brought about by any of the following three folding process by adjusting the thic.ness at the rim with respect to the thic.ness available at the apex of the liner. ,o long as the thic.ness at the rim is above %-E of the thic.ness at the apex the liner folds bac.ward. <f the thic.ness along the axial direction is varied with its radial position two other modes also can be obtained. 4s the thic.ness at the rim is approaching %-E there exists a point at which the liner will collapses radially. <f the variation is increased further a forward folding process will occur. 4s the thic.ness at the rim reaches +1E to that available at the apex a very strong stretching as well as collapse motion will occur. Though all these folding processes as stated above can be achieved only bac.ward folding process with liners of constant thic.ness allows the designer for projecting the EFP with better aerodynamic stability and maximum projected mass

STATE OF A T ! APP"#$AT#O% OF T&E TE$&%O"O'( ,everal applications have evolved since "#0- for warheads using this technology vi*

EFP )#T& $A%TE* F#%S The next generation of smart munitions will require EFP designs with better aerodynamic stability and extended standoff capability. /ence efforts are being focused on forming EFPs with canted fins6 to induce spin-up. This spin-up will improve the EFP@s aero ballistic characteristics and on target accuracy. 2omputer simulations and test results conducted to date have shown that an EFP can be formed with canted fins for increased spin6 stability and accuracy at extended ranges.. *emolition EFP are finding their application as a tool for remotely clearing )inefield. ,tudies are also being conducted to assess it@s response to anti-personnel mines and unexploded ordnance on impact The objective of the above studies is to obtain a low order reaction preferably a deflagration on impact ! so that collateral damage could be minimi*ed while neutrali*ing them. The relatively large stand off prevents the danger of a close approach to the armed mines and unexploded shells. #ndian scenario 4&7E6 Pune in their effort to develop a ,ensor Fu*ed )unition SFM! has demonstrated an EFP warhead design through limited experimentation in parabolic geometry. &esults achieved from limited trials carried out indicate that a coherent aerodynamically stable projectile capable of defeating 1.+7 in &/4 at a long stand off distance of %%% caliber has been achieved. 7ue to severe volumetric6 energetic material and geometric constraints the warhead design could not be designed to achieve maximum lethality. /owever this warhead design could not be fully optimi*ed due to severe volumetric=energetic material=geometric system constraints. &oy and cowor.ers has investigated flat cone liners in detail They have reported their findings regarding the empirical relationship that exists between the various design parameters. T8&> 2handigarh has developed an EFP warhead in spherical geometry using low carbon steel alloy luner for use in offroute mine. T8&> is also studying the feasibility of developing a multi EFP warhead system. 4&7E is studying the feasibility of developing an EFP warhead for use in scatterable mine system=improved offroute mine 'lobal scenario

4vailable published literature indicates that very few countries have mastered this technology. >ist of countries who have fielded munitions based on this technology are given in 4ppendix F4@. From these publications it is seen that the lethality achieved = claimed by these manufacturers are far less than what is being reported through papers published in international forums of repute such as <nternational symposium on 8allistics.