LLNL researchers uses Additive Manufacturing (AM) to create reinforcing scaffolds that can be integrated with High Explosives (HE) or solid rocket fuel with minimal volume fraction. Its main benefit is to create stability in harsh field conditions.  Its secondary benefit is providing another method to finely tune blast performance or fuel burn. Creating complex shapes with structural…

Livermore Lab researchers have developed a tunable shaped charge which comprises a cylindrical liner commonly a metal such as copper or molybdenum but almost any solid material can be used and a surround layer of explosive in which the detonation front is constrained to propagate at an angle with respect to the charge axis.  The key to the concept is the ability to deposit a surrounding…

Livermore Lab researchers have developed a method that combines additive manufacturing (AM) with an infill step to render a final component which is energetic. In this case, AM is first used to print a part of the system, and this material can either be inert or energetic on its own. A second material is subsequently added to the structure via a second technique such as casting, melt…