O-195 Slow Heating Testing Survey And Historical Events Review

This report describes the results of an international review of the STANAG 4382 Slow Heating, Munitions Test Procedures, as well a review of heating rates and durations associated with actual fire events. The purpose of the slow heating test is to assess the reaction, if any, of munitions and weapon systems to a gradually increasing thermal environment. To perform the review, MSIAC created a questionnaire in conjunction with the custodian of this STANAG, the United States, and sent it to subject matter experts including test centers in most of the AC/326 nations. Moreover, an analysis of similar standards has been done in order to achieve more consistency in the recommendations. From a NATO point of view, the requirements for the slow heating test are defined within three documents: STANAG 4439, STANAG 4382 and AOP-39. The test 7 (h) from the “UN – Manual of Tests and Criteria” specifies a slow cook-off test for the classification into hazard division 1.6. The questionnaire questions deal with the test purpose, test procedure, heating rate, actual events, oven design, oven standardization, temperature preconditioning, energetics melting, reaction temperature, test item restraints, test item orientation, instrumentation, and number of tests. This report provides an analysis of the answers received, summarizes best practice and provides some recommendations to potentially support an amendment of STANAG 4382.