Dynamic Fracture and Fragmentation Characteristics of Metal Cylinder and Rings Subjected to Internal Explosive Loading

Dynamic fracture and fragmentation characteristics of explosively driven rings and cylinders are important issues in the field of weapon effectiveness and protection. However, the comparison of fracture characteristics between metal cylinder and rings, and the fracture characteristics of the metal shells at different axial positions, are rarely touched. In the present work, a recovery tank was used to collect fragments, and witness plates were used to investigate the fragment spatial distributions. Before the test, the representative positions of metal shells were plated with copper layers to locate the original position of the recovered fragments. After the test, scanning electron microscopy and optical microscope were used for characterizing the microstructure of the recovered fragments from different positions. Then, the recovered fragments were weighed and measured to investigate their mass and size characteristics. In addition, numerical simulation was used to further investigate the fracture mechanisms of explosively driven cylinders and rings. It was found that the projection angle axial distribution of the fragments for the metal cylinder was similar to that of the fragments for the metal rings. However, the fracture characteristics of the metal rings were significantly different from those of the metal cylinder. The adiabatic shear band played a key role in the fracture process of the metal cylinder, whereas the adiabatic shear band had little chance to initiate in the fracture process of the metal rings because the metal rings could deform uniformly with much fewer strain localizations due to their much lower length. The fracture surfaces of the fragments from different positions of the metal cylinder were very smooth, whereas dimples were found in the fracture surfaces of the fragments from different positions of the metal rings. The mass distribution of the fragments from the metal rings was more uniform than that of the fragments from the metal cylinder, and the circumferential rupture strains of the metal rings were much larger than those of the metal cylinder.