Sandia National Labs FY20 LDRD Annual Report

FY20 ANNUAL REPORT

Unmanned aerial systems neutralization using disintegrating bullets. Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) pose a national security threat. Current counter-UAS technology has limited effectiveness against interdiction of a UAS attack. Disintegrating munitions offers an opportunity to utilize kinetic means to interdict UASs without causing down-range collateral damage. A bullet-shaped glass was developed from Corning 0317 glass and ion-exchanged to create a stressed glass bullet. The glass bullet fragmented into many pieces when a crack was intentionally created with a diamond punch. The glass bullet was successfully fired from a .50 caliber smooth bore muzzle-loading musket with a muzzle velocity of 784.97 ft/sec. A model was developed to predict the stresses produced in the glass bullet during the ion-exchange process, and diffusion-mechanics and viscoelastic constitutive

solutions were implemented into a finite element code. Data from this project and resulting disintegrating munitions could prove beneficial to numerous agencies. (PI: Kevin Strong)

The process of developing a stressed glass bullet.

A glass bullet as it is successfully fired from a .50 caliber smooth bore muzzle-loading musket.

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LABORATORY DIRECTED RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT