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Did you know how a fragmentable warhead disintegrates instantly when it hits its target?
Did you know? A fragmentable warhead is a munition designed to instantly disintegrate into tiny particles when it hits a target to reduce penetration into other objects, thereby protecting innocent people and objects at a distance. Most of these warhead materials are made by powder metallurgy technology. The metals used usually include tin, copper, zinc and tungsten. High-density materials are manufactured by compressing mixed powder metals at room temperature.
The disintegration mechanism of a fragmentable warhead relies on the transfer of energy when it hits the target, and may even be vaporized on impact when the bullet's velocity is high enough.
However, not all firearms have the ability to fire bullets at sufficient velocity to ensure reliable vaporization, so these fragmentable warheads often rely on other mechanisms to disintegrate at lower velocities.
When using frangible warheads, the characteristics of the target are critical to the interaction of the bullet. When the target decelerates quickly enough to trigger the disintegration mechanism, the bullet may penetrate soft, fragile, or low-density materials and not disintegrate quickly. These warheads must withstand a certain amount of stability during handling, loading and firing to ensure accurate target engagement. Therefore, high-velocity munitions may require the use of non-frigible casings to protect the frangible core to prevent premature disintegration before hitting the target. Even if the shell were able to rebound, the lack of mass of the breakable core would significantly reduce range.
Fragmentable warheads cause wounds similar to traditional bullets when hitting animal targets, and in some cases can penetrate soft tissue like full metal jacket bullets.
However, some slugs may disintegrate instantly when they impact bone. Hunting rounds often contain a frangible core that disintegrates when the protective shell is opened by soft tissue or fluid, causing very serious wounds and lasting effects.
Recognizing the threat that fragmentable warheads may pose to traditional body armor, the National Institute of Justice has asked the National Laboratory's Office of Law Enforcement Standards at the National Laboratory of Standards and Technology to conduct a limited series of tests to evaluate the impact of fragmentable munitions on body armor. performance. This preliminary study was intended to attempt to identify the potential safety threat to personal protection posed by this type of munitions; however, as of November 2002, the true scope and relevance of this threat was unknown.
With its lower risk of ricochet and reduced lead exposure, fragmentable warheads optimize the safety of specialized combat simulation training, especially training in multi-target firefights within a 360-degree range.
Such munitions are also specialized munition types used to reduce rebound and limit penetration, particularly in urban environments or in confined spaces on ships and aircraft, reducing the risk to friendly forces and innocent people. With the development of breakable warheads, this emerging technology provides a safe solution for use in hazardous environments such as oil platforms or chemical or nuclear power plants.
Looking back at history, in the United States in the 20th century, injuries caused by the rebound of lead shrapnel in playground shooting halls promoted the development of frangible warheads. These special .22 short bullet inventories include Peters' Krumble Ball, Remington's Spatter-Less, Western's Kant-Splash and Brilliant Spatterpruf are other products. The United States uses fragmentable lead/phenolic M22 bullets on aircraft as target practice equipment. These M22 rounds are less dense but shaped like traditional M2 rounds to ensure they can operate reliably through automatic loading machines.
With the early 2000s, the U.S. military began using fragmentable warheads in small arms training to reduce the risk of rebound. These warheads use nylon as a binder in the core and combine it with a metal powder-containing material to create their unique structure. The application scope of this type of ammunition is increasingly expanding, and its unique safety characteristics map the development direction of future ammunition technology.
Will these innovative changes have a more profound impact on the military and civilian fields in the future?
