Abstract:

The polymer bonded explosive (PBX) is an important energetic material widely used in weapon warheads. It is difficult to be machined by using conventional cutting (CC) method, because its low tensile intensity causes brittle fracture. The ultrasonic vibration cutting (UVC) method is a novel technique successfully applied to almost all the difficulttomachine materials, such as optical glass, ceramics, intractable alloys, composites and so on, except the explosives. An experimental study on UVC for PBX simulants was presented to compare with CC. Firstly, the contrastive experiments were carried out to investigate the cutting forces in UVC and CC. Secondly, the microscopic morphologies of machined surface were observed on the samples prepared by both UVC and CC method. The experiment results show that the main cutting force in UVC, compared with that in CC, decreases by 61.75% to 67.98%, and the cutting depth resistance and feeding force reduced by 55.57% to 65.56% and 31.63% to 42.29%, respectively; UVC can obtain a less extrusion and lower residual stress surface, and it may reduce the cutting heat. Moreover, UVC method can improve the manufacturing capability for PBX slender rods and thin wall parts.

Key words: ordnance science and technology, ultrasonic vibration cutting, polymer bonded explosive, simulant, cutting force, machined surface