 Sectioned HEAT round with the inner shaped charge visible
 1:Aerodynamic cover 2: Empty room 3: Conical liner 4: Detonator 5: Explosive 6: Piezo-electric sensor A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to focus the effect of the explosive's energy. Various types are used to cut and form metal, initiate nuclear weapons, and penetrate armour. A typical modern lined shaped charge can penetrate armour steel to a depth of 7 or more times the diameter of the charge's cone (cone diameters, CD), though greater depths of 10 CD and above are now feasible. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1489x415, 202 KB) Copyright © 2005 David Monniaux File links The following pages link to this file: Shaped charge High explosive anti-tank User:Tom harrison/gravelpit ...
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This article is concerned solely with chemical explosives. ...
The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter A nuclear weapon derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions of fusion or fission. ...
For other uses, see Armour (disambiguation). ...
Overview
Shaped charges are frequently used as warheads in anti-tank missiles (guided and unguided) and also gun-fired projectiles (spun and unspun), rifle grenades, mines, bomblets, torpedoes and various types of air/land/sea-launched guided missiles. They are also used to demolish large obsolete structures by precisely placed and progressively timed cutting charges with the intent of causing an inward collapse that confines the debris to the structure's footprint. Shaped charges find their most numerous application in the petroleum industry, in particular in the completion of oil wells, in which they are used to perforate the metal casing of the well at intervals to admit the influx of oil. For other uses, see Demolition (disambiguation). ...
A perforation in the context of oil wells, refers to a hole punched in the casing or liner of an oil well to connect it to the reservoir. ...
A typical device consists of a solid cylinder of explosive with a metal-lined conical hollow in one end and a central detonator, array of detonators, or detonation wave guide at the other end. The enormous pressure generated by the detonation of the explosive drives the liner contained within the hollow cavity inward to collapse upon its central axis. The resulting collision forms and projects a high-velocity jet of metal forward along the axis. Most of the jet material originates from the innermost layer of the liner, about 10% to 20% of its thickness. The remaining liner material forms a slower-moving slug of material, which is sometimes called a "carrot." This article is concerned solely with chemical explosives. ...
A detonator is a device used to trigger bombs, shaped charges and other forms of explosive material and explosive devices. ...
A weapons cache is detonated at the East River Range on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan Detonation is a process of supersonic combustion in which a shock wave is propagated forward due to energy release in a reaction zone behind it. ...
Because of variations along the liner in its collapse velocity, the jet so formed has a varying velocity along its length, decreasing from the front. This variation in velocity stretches the jet and eventually leads to its break-up into particles. In time, the particles tend to lose their alignment, which reduces the depth of penetration at long standoffs.
Also, at the apex of the cone, which forms the very front of the jet, the liner does not have time to be fully accelerated before it forms its part of the jet. This results in its small part of jet being projected at a lower velocity than jet formed later behind it. As a result, the initial parts of the jet coalesce to form a pronounced wider tip portion.
Most of the jet formed moves at hypersonic speed, the tip at 7 to 14 km/s, the jet tail at a lower velocity (1 to 3 km/s), and the slug at a still lower velocity (less than 1 km/s). The exact velocities are dependent on the charge's configuration and confinement, explosive type, materials used, and the explosive-initiation mode. At typical velocities, the penetration process generates such enormous pressures that it may be considered hydrodynamic; to a good approximation, the jet and armor may be treated as incompressible fluids, with their material strengths ignored. Boeing X-43 at Mach 7 In aerodynamics, hypersonic speeds are speeds that are highly supersonic. ...
Hydrodynamics is fluid dynamics applied to liquids, such as water, alcohol, oil, and blood. ...
The liner The shape most commonly used for the liner is a cone, with an internal apex angle of 40 to 90 degrees. Different apex angles yield different distributions of jet mass and velocity. Small apex angles can result in jet bifurcation, or even in the failure of the jet to form at all; this is attributed to the collapse velocity being above a certain threshold, normally slightly higher than the liner material's bulk sound speed. Other widely used shapes include hemispheres, tulips, trumpets, ellipses, and bi-conics; the various shapes yield jets with different velocity and mass distributions. Look up cone in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Liners have been made from many materials, including glass and various metals. The deepest penetrations are achieved with a dense, ductile metal, and a very common choice has been copper. For some modern anti-armor weapons, molybdenum and pseudo-alloys of tungsten filler and copper binder (9:1 thus density is ~18t/m3) have been adopted. Just about every common metallic element has been tried, including aluminium, tungsten, tantalum, depleted uranium, lead, tin, cadmium, cobalt, magnesium, titanium, zinc, zirconium, molybdenum, beryllium, nickel, silver, and even gold and platinum. The selection of the material depends on the target to be penetrated; for example, aluminium has been found advantageous for concrete targets. For other uses, see Copper (disambiguation). ...
General Name, Symbol, Number molybdenum, Mo, 42 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 6, 5, d Appearance gray metallic Standard atomic weight 95. ...
For other uses, see Tungsten (disambiguation). ...
In general, a filler is something that is used to fill gaps. ...
New Reaper McCormick Harvester and Binder A modern compact binder For other uses, see Binder (disambiguation). ...
Aluminum redirects here. ...
For other uses, see Tungsten (disambiguation). ...
General Name, Symbol, Number tantalum, Ta, 73 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 5, 6, d Appearance gray blue Standard atomic weight 180. ...
Depleted uranium storage yard. ...
This article is about the metal. ...
This article is about the metallic chemical element. ...
General Name, Symbol, Number cadmium, Cd, 48 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 12, 5, d Appearance silvery gray metallic Standard atomic weight 112. ...
For other uses, see Cobalt (disambiguation). ...
General Name, symbol, number magnesium, Mg, 12 Chemical series alkaline earth metals Group, period, block 2, 3, s Appearance silvery white solid at room temp Standard atomic weight 24. ...
General Name, symbol, number titanium, Ti, 22 Chemical series transition metals Group, period, block 4, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Standard atomic weight 47. ...
General Name, symbol, number zinc, Zn, 30 Chemical series transition metals Group, period, block 12, 4, d Appearance bluish pale gray Standard atomic weight 65. ...
General Name, Symbol, Number zirconium, Zr, 40 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 4, 5, d Appearance silvery white Standard atomic weight 91. ...
General Name, Symbol, Number molybdenum, Mo, 42 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 6, 5, d Appearance gray metallic Standard atomic weight 95. ...
General Name, symbol, number beryllium, Be, 4 Chemical series alkaline earth metals Group, period, block 2, 2, s Appearance white-gray metallic Standard atomic weight 9. ...
For other uses, see Nickel (disambiguation). ...
This article is about the chemical element. ...
GOLD refers to one of the following: GOLD (IEEE) is an IEEE program designed to garner more student members at the university level (Graduates of the Last Decade). ...
General Name, Symbol, Number platinum, Pt, 78 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 10, 6, d Appearance grayish white Standard atomic weight 195. ...
For the deepest penetrations, pure metals yield the best results, because they display the greatest ductility, hence postponing the breakup of the stretching jet into particles. In charges for oil-well completion, however, it is essential that a solid slug or "carrot" not be formed, since it would plug the hole just penetrated and interfere with the influx of oil. In the petroleum industry, therefore, liners are generally fabricated by powder metallurgy, often of pseudo-alloys, which if un-sintered, yield jets that are composed mainly of dispersed fine metal particles. Powder metallurgy is a forming and fabrication technique consisting of three major processing stages. ...
Sintering is a method for making objects from powder, increasing the adhesion between particles as they are heated. ...
During World War II, liners were made of copper or steel, though other materials were tried or researched. The precision of the charge's construction and its detonation mode were both inferior to modern warheads. This lower precision caused the jet to curve and to break up at an earlier time and hence at a shorter distance. The resulting dispersion decreased the penetration depth for a given cone diameter and also shortened the optimum standoff distance. Since the charges were less effective at larger standoffs, side and turret skirts (known as Schürzen) were fitted to some German tanks to give the jet room to disperse and hence reduce its penetrating ability. The plates may also have been used to destabilise small calibre armour piercing (AP) projectiles, and/or strip the penetration cap from larger calibre APC (armour piercing capped) and APCBC (armour piercing capped ballistic capped) projectiles. An Armour piercing shell is a type of ammunition designed to penetrate armour. ...
The use of skirts today may increase the penetration of some warheads. Due to constraints in the length of the projectile/missile, the built in stand-off on many warheads is not the optimum distance. The skirting effectively increases the distance between the armour and the target, providing the warhead with a more optimum standoff and greater penetration if the optimum stand-off is not drastically exceeded. Skirting should not be confused with bar/slat/chain armour which is used to damage the fuzing system of RPG-7 projectiles. The armour works by deforming the inner and outer ogives and shorting the firing circuit between the rocket's piezoelectric nose probe and rear fuze assembly. If the nose probe strikes the armour, the warhead will function as normal. The RPG-7 (Russian: ) is a widely-produced, portable, shoulder-launched, anti-tank rocket propelled grenade weapon. ...
An ogive is a curved shape, figure, or feature. ...
Piezoelectricity is the ability of certain crystals to produce a voltage when subjected to mechanical stress. ...
The spacing between the shaped charge and its target is critical, as there is an optimum standoff distance to achieve the deepest penetration. At short standoffs, the jet does not have room to stretch out, and at long standoffs, it eventually breaks into particles, which then tend of drift off the line of axis and to tumble, so that the successive particles tend to widen rather than deepen the hole. At very long standoffs, velocity is lost to air drag, degrading penetration further.
The explosive For optimum penetration, a high explosive having a high detonation velocity and pressure is normally chosen. The most common explosive used in high performance anti-armour warheads is HMX (octogen), though it is never used on its own, as it would be too sensitive. It is normally compounded with a few percent of some type of plastic binder, such as in the plastic bonded explosive (PBX) LX-14, or with another less-sensitive explosive, such as TNT, with which it forms Octol. Other common explosives are RDX-based compositions, again either as PBXs or mixtures with TNT (to form Composition B and the Cyclotols) or wax (Cyclonites). Some explosives incorporate powdered aluminium to increase their blast and detonation temperature, but this addition generally results in decreased performance of the shaped charge. There has been research into using the very-high-performance but sensitive explosive CL-20 in shaped-charge warheads, but, at present, due to its sensitivity, this has been in the form of the PBX composite LX-19 (CL-20 and Estane binder). // HMX, also called octogen or cyclotetramethylene-tetranitramine, is a powerful and relatively insensitive nitroamine high explosive, chemically related to RDX. First made in 1930, it is used almost exclusively in military applications, including use as the detonators in nuclear weapons, in the form of polymer-bonded explosive, and as a...
R-phrases S-phrases Related Compounds Related compounds picric acid hexanitrobenzene Except where noted otherwise, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C, 100 kPa) Infobox disclaimer and references Trinitrotoluene (TNT) is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. ...
OKTOL or OCTOL is an explosive that consists of 75% HMX and 25% TNT. See also OKFOL, another HMX based explosive. ...
RDX redirects here. ...
Composition B is an explosive consisting of castable mixtures of RDX and TNT as well as, in some instances, additional desensitizing agents. ...
Cyclotol is an explosive made from a mixture of RDX and TNT. This article is a stub. ...
Aluminum redirects here. ...
CL-20 CL-20, or hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane, is an explosive developed by the China Lake facility, primarily to be used in propellants. ...
Other features A waveshaper is a body (typically a disc or cylindrical block) of an inert material (typically solid or foamed plastic, but sometimes metal, perhaps hollow) inserted within the explosive for the purpose of changing the path of the detonation wave. The effect is to modify the collapse of the cone and resulting jet formation, with the intent of increasing penetration performance. Waveshapers are often used to save space—a shorter charge can achieve the same performance as a longer one without a waveshaper.
Another useful design feature is sub-calibration, the use of a liner having a smaller diameter (calibre) than the explosive charge. In an ordinary charge, the explosive near the base of the cone is so thin that it is unable to accelerate the adjacent liner to sufficient velocity to form an effective jet. In a sub-calibrated charge, this part of the device is effectively cut off, resulting in a shorter charge with the same performance.
Shaped Charge Variants There are several different forms of shaped charge.
Linear shaped charges A linear shaped charge (LSC) has a liner with V-shaped profile and varying length. The liner is surrounded with explosive, the explosive then encased within a suitable material that serves to protect the explosive and to confine (tamp) it on detonation. The charge is detonated at some point in the explosive above the liner apex. The detonation projects the liner to form a continuous, knife-like (planar) jet. The jet cuts any material in its path, to a depth depending on the size and materials used in the charge. For the cutting of complex geometries, there are also flexible versions of the linear shaped charge, these with a lead or high-density foam sheathing and a ductile/flexible liner material, which also is often lead. LSCs are commonly used in the cutting of rolled steel joists (RSJ) and other structural targets, such as in the controlled demolition of buildings. LSCs are also used to separate the stages of multi-stage rockets. Image File history File links LinearShapedCharge. ...
Image File history File links LinearShapedCharge. ...
June 2006 demolition of the 12-story Tencza Apartment building in Arlington, Virginia. ...
Explosively Formed Penetrator -
The Explosively Formed Penetrator (EFP) is also known as the Self-Forging Fragment (SFF), Explosively Formed Projectile (EFP), SElf-FOrging Projectile (SEFOP), Plate Charge, and Misznay-Schardin (MS) Charge. An EFP uses the action of the explosive's detonation wave (and to a lesser extent the propulsive effect of its detonation products) to project and deform a plate or dish of ductile metal (such as copper, iron, or tantalum) into a compact high-velocity projectile, commonly called the slug. This slug is projected towards the target at about two kilometres per second. The chief advantage of the EFP over a conventional (e.g., conical) shaped charge is its effectiveness at very great standoffs, equal to hundreds of times the charge's diameter (perhaps a hundred meters for a practical device). An explosively formed penetrator (EFP), also known as an explosively formed projectile, a self-forging warhead, or a self-forging fragment, is a special type of shaped charge designed to penetrate armour effectively at stand-off distances. ...
The Misznay-Schardin effect is a characteristic of the detonation of a broad sheet of explosive. ...
The EFP is relatively unaffected by first-generation reactive armour and can travel up to perhaps 1000 charge diameters (CDs) before its velocity becomes ineffective at penetrating armour due to aerodynamic drag, or successfully hitting the target becomes a problem. The impact of a ball or slug EFP normally causes a large-diameter but relatively shallow hole, of, at most, a couple of CDs. If the EFP perforates the armour, extensive behind armour effects (BAE, also called behind armour damage, BAD) will occur. The BAE is mainly caused by the high temperature and velocity armour and slug fragments being injected into the interior space and the overpressure (blast) caused by this debris. More modern EFP warhead versions, through the use of advanced initiation modes, can also produce long-rods (stretched slugs), multi-slugs and finned rod/slug projectiles. The long-rods are able to penetrate a much greater depth of armour, at some loss to BAE, multi-slugs are better at defeating light and/or area targets and the finned projectiles have greatly enhanced accuracy. The use of this warhead type is mainly restricted to lightly armoured areas of main battle tanks (MBT), the top, belly and rear armoured areas for example. Its use in the attack of other less heavily protected armoured fighting vehicles (AFV) and in the breaching of material targets (buildings, bunkers, bridge supports, etc), it is well suited. The newer rod projectiles may be effective against the more heavily armoured areas of MBTs. Weapons using the EFP principle have already been used in combat; the "smart" submunitions in the CBU-97 cluster bomb used by the US Air Force and Navy in the 2003 Iraq war employed this principle, and the US Army is reportedly experimenting with precision-guided artillery shells under Project SADARM (Seek And Destroy ARMor). There are also various other projectile (BONUS, DM 642) and rocket submunitions (Motiv-3M, DM 642) and mines (MIFF, TMRP-6) that use EFP principle. M60A1 Patton tank with Israeli Blazer ERA. T-72 battle tank layered with reactive armour bricks Reactive armour is a type of vehicle armour that reacts in some way to the impact of a weapon to reduce the damage done to the vehicle being protected. ...
In military science, smart weapons refers to munitions equipped with guidance technology that actively seeks a target with little or no direction from a remote controller after the munitions are launched. ...
CBU-97 Developed and produced by Textron Defense Systems the CBU-97 is a United States Air Force 1,000 pound (450 kg) class non-guided (freefall) cluster bomb, hence the name CBU (Cluster Bomb Unit). ...
A US B-1 Lancer releasing its payload of cluster bombs Cluster Munitions or Cluster Bombs are air-dropped or ground-launched munitions that eject a number of smaller submunitions (bomblets). The most common types are intended to kill enemy personnel and destroy vehicles. ...
A shell is a projectile, which, as opposed to a bullet, is not solid but contains an explosive or other filling. ...
The SADARM submunition, above, with the ram air parachute deployed, below with the ring vortex parachute deployed. ...
Tandem warhead Some modern anti-tank rockets (RPG-27, RPG-29) and missiles (TOW 2B, ERYX) use a tandem warhead shaped charge, consisting of two separate shaped charges, one in front of the other, typically with some distance between them. Usually, the front charge is somewhat smaller than the rear one, as it is intended primarily to disrupt explosive reactive armor. The RPG-26 is a man-portable disposable anti-tank rocket launcher developed by the Soviet Union. ...
RPG-29 launcher and PG-29V rocket. ...
A TOW missile being fired from a Jeep. ...
ERYX Type anti-tank Nationality France Era Cold War, modern Launch platform Individual, Vehicle Target Vehicle, Fortification History Builder MBDA Date of design Production period 1989 Service duration 1994 Operators Canadian, French, Norwegian armies Variants Number built Specifications Type Diameter 0. ...
A tandem-charge weapon is an explosive device or projectile that has two or more stages of detonation. ...
This article or section should include material from Explosive reactive armour Reactive armor or explosive reactive armour (ERA), is a type of armour used primarily on tanks to lessen the damage from explosions caused from missile warheads, exploding shells, grenades, or dropped bombs. ...
References Fundamentals of Shaped Charges, W.P. Walters, J.A. Zukas, John Wiley & Sons Inc., June 1989, ISBN 0-471-62172-2.
Tactical Missile Warheads, Joseph Carleone (ed.), Progress in Astronautics and Aeronautics Series (V-155), Published by AIAA, 1993, ISBN 1-56347-067-5.
See also Modern high explosive lenses. ...
The Munroe effect refers to the partial focusing of blast energy caused by a hollow or void cut into a piece of explosive, a property which is exploited by a shaped charge. ...
A HEAT round. ...
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