Liner Material Dependence on Penetration Ability of Metal Jet generated from Mini-Shaped Charge Devices against Iron Target

New experimental data for the mass and density gradients of Cu and Zn metal jet using the original mass-estimation method are reported. The metal jets were generated by using shaped charges, which consist of conical Cu / Zn liners and PBX explosive charge. To compare the penetration ability of these two metal jets, Fe target-blocks were used as the target. At 3 CD (3 times charge diameter; ca. 100 mm from the shaped charge device), the breakup of Cu jet was observed, and the Cu metal segment at the jet tip was generated. On the other hand, the breakup of the Zn jet was not observed at 3 CD. The tip of the Zn jet exhibited a comet-like tail, which is unique compared to the morphology of the Cu leading jet. This result shows that the Zn jet tip reaches a state of liquid, and/or becomes a fine particle at the initial formation process. Against expectations, the penetration depth of the Zn jet against the Fe target placed at 5CD from the shaped charge device was higher than that of the Cu jet having a relatively large initial density. This result suggests that the penetration depth is more affected by the total mass of the metal jet and that the liner geometry to generate the jet mass effectively is differ depending on the material properties such as density and melting point.