Shaped Charge Design : Construction of a Miniaturized Shaped Charge

Abstract: The shaped charges on the market today ranges from about 20 to 200 mm in diameter but there is a need of smaller sizes for example in applications where a small projectile with a high speed is needed or to equip or take out drones with. The objective of this thesis work was to develop a miniaturized shaped charge with dimensions smaller than those available today and preferably with a diameter down to 10 mm. The project was conducted at Karlstad University in collaboration with Saab Dynamics AB. The process used during this project was to start with a feasibility study to obtain information about the limits on dimensions in order to investigate how small dimensions can be used for the casing and liner with respect to manufacturability. The feasibility study was conducted by studying academic literature, contacting companies with expertise within the field of manufacturing. A previously used shaped charge was used as a starting point and the dimensions was scaled in accordance with the objective. The influence of the design parameters was examined using the γSPH module in IMPETUS Afea. The liner material used was restricted to oxygen-free high thermal conductivity copper and different materials for the casing was tested. Two material selections for the casing were made with the aid of Granta Edupack. It has been concluded that it is possible to manufacture a miniaturized shaped charge with dimensions down to about ten mm. Both a design for a jet forming shaped charge and an explosively formed penetrator was developed during the project. The resulting projectile for the explosively formed penetrator had a velocity of 2450 m/s, a total length of 7.3 mm and 3.5 mm in diameter, and the jet forming shaped charge had a jet tip velocity of 7060 m/s and was able to penetrate 38-mm into an AISI 4340 steel target according to the models used in IMPETUS Afea. A prototype was planned but due to cost restrictions, it is left as future work.