Annual Report 2007

Enabling a New Generation of Munitions For the Naval Surface Warfare Center, GTRI researchers have developed an improved technique for fabricating an explosive precursor material based on copper. iny copper structures with pores at both the nanometer- and micron-size scales could play a key role in the next generation of detonators used to improve the reliability, reduce the size and lower the cost of certain military munitions. Developed by a team of scientists from GTRI and the Indian Head Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, the highly uniform copper structures will be incorporated into integrated circuits – then chemically converted to millimeter-diameter explosives. Because they can be integrated into standard microelectronics fabrication processes, the copper materials will enable micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) fuzes for military munitions to be mass-produced like computer chips. “An ability to tailor the porosity and structural integrity of the explosive precursor material is a T combination we’ve never had before,” said Jason Nadler, a GTRI research engineer. “We can start with the Navy’s requirements for the material and design structures able to meet those requirements. We can have an integrated design tool able to develop a whole range of explosive precursors on different size scales.” Nadler uses a variety of templates, including microspheres and woven fabrics, to create regular patterns in copper oxide paste whose viscosity is controlled by the addition of polymers. He then thermochemically removes the template and converts the resulting copper oxide structures to pure metal, retaining the patterns imparted by the template. The size of the pores can be controlled by using different templates and by varying the processing conditions. So far, he’s made copper structures with channel sizes as small as a few microns – with structural components that have nanoscale pores. Based on feedback from the Navy scientists, Nadler can tweak the structures to help optimize the overall device – known as a fuze – which controls when and where a munition will explode. The copper precursor is a significant improvement over the copper foam material that Indian Head scientists had previously been evaluating. Produced with a sintered powder process, the foam was fragile and non-uniform, meaning Navy scientists couldn’t precisely predict reliability or how much explosive would be created in each micro-detonator. “GTRI has been able to provide us with material that has well-controlled and well-known characteristics,” said Michael Beggans, a scientist in the Energetics Technology Department of the Indian Head Division. “Having this material allows us to determine the amount of explosive that can be formed in the MEMS Fuze. The size of that charge also determines the size and operation of the other components.” 15 www.gtri.gatech.edu http://www.gtri.gatech.edu

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Annual Report 2007

Annual Report 2007 Contents From the Director Research at GTRI Defense and Security Health and Human Systems Energy and Environment Manufacturing Technologies Information and Communication Technologies GTRI Around the World Interdisciplinary Research Centers The Laboratories of GTRI Georgia Tech Ireland GTRI by the Numbers GTRI and Georgia Tech Supporting Breakthrough Research GTRI Professional Education The People of GTRI

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