Integrated additive manufacture (AM) of explosive payloads
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorsShawn S. Coffee, Christopher F. Williams, Jude Sprouffske, Mark W. Olles, Ian D. Stochl
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Abstract
Integrated Additive Manufacture (AM) of explosive payloads including both energetic and non-energetic components is achieved by controlling the AM processes such that a temperature of any deposited energetic material is bounded below and away from the energetic material's onset temperature to avoid detonation or decomposition of the energetic material during manufacture. This constraint places requirements on the selection of the energetic materials, the AM processes and 3D printer systems for depositing the non-energetic materials and the final composition and density of the non-energetic components.
Claims20
A method of manufacturing an explosive payload, the method comprising:
- using one or more additive manufacturing processes to selectively deposit energetic and non-energetic materials in a layer-by-layer sequence to build at least one energetic component and at least one non-energetic component, in which a first portion of at least one said non-energetic component and a first portion of at least one said energetic component are built in a common layer and a second portion of at least one said non-energetic component is built on a top surface of a second portion of at least one said energetic component, wherein the energetic material has an onset temperature at which the energetic material may detonate;
- and
- controlling the additive manufacturing process that is used to build the at least one said non-energetic component such that a temperature of any deposited energetic material is bounded below and away from the energetic material's onset temperature to avoid detonation or decomposition of the energetic component during manufacture.
An explosive payload, comprising:
- at least one energetic component formed from at least one energetic material, said at least one energetic material having an onset temperature at which it may detonate,
- at least one non-energetic component formed from at least one inert material,
- wherein a first portion of the at least one non-energetic component and a first portion of the at least one energetic component are formed in a common layer;
- wherein a second portion of the at least one non-energetic component is formed on a top surface of a second portion of the at least one energetic component;
- wherein the at least one energetic component and at least one non-energetic component are created via one or more additive manufacturing processes to selectively deposit energetic and non-energetic materials in a layer-by-layer sequence;
- wherein the additive manufacturing process that is used to build the at least one said non-energetic component is controlled such that a temperature of any deposited energetic material is bounded below and away from the energetic material's onset temperature to avoid detonation or decomposition of the energetic component during manufacture.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.