Initiation of high explosive charges by fragment impact

This paper describes a study on the sensitivity of high explosive charges to fragment impact. Two different projectiles, an 18.6 g steel cylinder according to STANAG 4496 and a 250 g steel sphere (French Heavy Fragment), were launched against cylindrical Composition B charges with velocities up to 2500 m/s. These charges were covered with a 10 mm steel plate or uncovered. At first, the interaction of both projectiles with the steel cover plate at different impact velocities was investigated. Important measures were the projectile shape and velocity after penetration as well as the dimensions of the perforations in the cover plate. Afterwards both projectiles were launched against the high explosive targets. Strongly different values of the critical impact velocity and the width of the transition zone were observed. The experiments were analyzed following the v2d law.