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Acta Armamentarii ›› 2023, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (3): 638-654.doi: 10.12382/bgxb.2021.0787

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Review and Prospect of Life Extension Technology for Gun Barrels

MAO Baoquan1(), ZHAO Qijin2(), BAI Xianghua1(), WANG Zhiqian3(), ZHU Rui4(), CHEN Chunlin1()   

  1. 1 Weapons and Control Department, Army Academy of Armored Forces, Beijing 100072, China
    2 Unit 96901 of PLA, Beijing 100089, China
    3 Unit 63963 of PLA, Beijing 100072, China
    4 Unit 32137 of PLA, Zhangjiakou 075000, Hebei, China
  • Received:2021-11-18 Online:2022-06-16
  • Contact: ZHAO Qijin

Abstract:

The challenge of extending barrel life has restricted the improvement of the performance and combat effectiveness of guns for a long time. Therefore, extending the service life of gun barrels has become the urgent need for modernization and future battlefields. First, the main factors affecting gun barrel life are summarized. Then the domestic and foreign technical methods for barrel service life extension are introduced, including propellant improvement, surface treatment of the barrel bore, optimization of projectile and rifling design, gun steel improvement, and anti-ablation technology based on magnetron plasma. Moreover, research progress of relevant technologies at home and abroad is summarized, and the shortcomings in these technical fields in China are analyzed. Finally, this study gives the prospects of the future development direction in the field of barrel life extension from the aspects of clarifying the ablation and wear laws of the barrel bore, selecting feasible life extension methods, and taking multiple measures to conduct key research, and exploring and developing the anti-ablation technology based on magnetron plasma. This study provides ideas for the development of conventional barrel life extension technology and insights into new life extension technologies, thus improving the combat effectiveness of weapons.

Key words: gun barrel, factors affecting gun barrel life, life extension technology, magnetron plasma