Experimental Research in Advanced Concepts for Novel Reactive Materials

Abstract : This proposed research addressed two areas of reactive materials (RM) research that can potentially improve DoD capabilities for defeat of WMDs. The first concept seeks to enhance feasibility of weaponizing RMs by researching a novel route to the production of metal-matrix composite RM casings and liners - infiltration of dense inert fibrous grids (e.g W wire) with castable lighter energetic metals (e.g. Al). This approach would potentially yield a route to practical, cost-effective production of non-porous, highly energetic, high density RM liners and cases with high strength and stiffness. Such an approach would be a great improvement in cost over the powder-based techniques currently envisioned - greatly speeding implementation. The second concept builds on recent research on a speculative energy state of hydrogen, which, if attainable, would allow munitions to achieve greater than 10-fold increase in energy density over current chemical approaches. The theory and experiments speculate on accessible states of hydrogen with principle quantum number values of 1/n. While highly speculative in nature, the experimental evidence published in many mainstream physics journals is compelling, and the potential impact here is disruptive. Therefore, an independent verification of these results is worthwhile, and such an experiment was completed during the research period. These experiments involved the electronic spectrum in the vacuum ultraviolet of the proposed di-hydrino molecule.