O-184 Ageing and mechanical damage of munition materials

The Munitions Safety Information Analysis Center (MSIAC) is preparing a report that collects the most common age-induced degradation mechanisms, as they pertain to the most common materials applied to munition systems. The information contained in that report is intended to provide enough general and applied examples, such that even if it is not specific to a weapon system, material, or aging mechanism that the reader has encountered, will still provide the requisite guidance that  experienced practitioners may use to bound and inform their examination.

This paper provides an introduction to MSIAC’s report, which will be published in the summer of 2018. That report contains three sections covering the aging and degradation mechanisms specific to polymers, metals, and composites, as these are the predominant material classes present in munitions. A fourth section is devoted to munition-specific age and mechanical damage mechanisms arising from mechanical insults, transport, rough handling, service environment climatic and thermal variations, electromagnetic insults, etc. (The ceramic material class is omitted as there are few munitions that incorporate ceramics.) Lastly, a number of case studies are included in an appendix. 

This paper includes only information from the polymer section of the upcoming report as an
example.