It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for effectively controlling the shelf-life of ammunition.
A further object of the invention is to provide cartridge primers with a limited functional shelf-life.
A further object of this invention is to limit the functional life of ammunition by controlling the shelf-life of the primer.
Another object of the invention is to provide a cartridge primer with a primary initiator explosive material composed of an inorganic reactive multilayer.
Another object of the invention is to use the time-limited explosive properties of the inorganic reactive multilayer to control the functional shelf-life detonators used to initiate explosives.
Another object of the invention is to provide a Boxer type cartridge primer having a metal cup, a metal anvil, and a primary initiator that is a time-limited explosive composed of an inorganic reactive multilayer material.
Another object of the invention is to prevent extension of shelf-life of a primary initiator containing an inorganic reactive multilayer material by adding a quantity of material that has a change at low temperature including one of: a destructive phase change, a thermal contraction change, and an internal stress change.
Another object of the invention is to provide an explosive detonator or cartridge primer that uses an inorganic reactive multilayer to ignite the standard chemical initiators used in commercially available detonators and primers.
Another object of the invention is to provide methods for fabricating limited-life cartridge primers wherein the functional service life of the primer can be predetermined by the structural design and material composition selected for the inorganic reactive multilayer (RML) used as the primary initiator.
Another object of this invention is to provide a design for a primer using a RML that can be initiated electrically with the spark from a low-voltage battery.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and accompanying drawing. Basically, the present invention comprises a primer that utilizes a primary initiator or explosive that can be designed to become inactive in a predetermined period of time. The primary initiator or explosive is a synthetic inorganic material consisting of many layers of reactive elements, such as titanium-boron. The detonation or ignition sensitivity of these reactive multilayer materials is attributed to the interfacial energy stored in the metastable structure. The ignition sensitivity of the reactive multilayer degrades with time because interdiffusion of atoms reduces the excess energy stored at the layer interfaces. Thus, the usable life-time of the primer can be determined by the proper selection of the reacting elements and the design of the multilayer structure.
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h/t Roger
