AIAA 99-2555, Proceedings of 35th Joint Propulsion Conference, Los Angeles, CA, June 1999.
Barry
T. Neyer, Senior Member AIAA
John T. Adams
James C. Edwards
Terry L. Stoutenborough
Robert J. Tomasoski
EG&G Optoelectronics
Miamisburg, OH 45342-0529
937 865-5586
Current Address
Barry T. Neyer
Excelitas Technologies
1100 Vanguard Blvd
Miamisburg, OH 45342
(937) 865-5586
(937) 865-5170 (Fax)
Barry.Neyer@Excelitas.com
EG&G Optoelectronics has developed a low cost, reliable, hermetically sealed, chip slapper detonator for the US Army’s anti-tank weapons platforms. This detonator is also qualified and under consideration for several US Navy and Air Force programs. This detonator would also be suitable for various aerospace applications.
The design goal for this detonator was to develop a detonator that was as cost efficient as possible and yet was extremely reliable. The detonator was also designed to survive the most severe environments. The detonator has been subjected to a wide variety of electrical, mechanical, and thermal conditioning and has performed successfully afterwards.
The detonators were designed to be a commercial off-the-shelf detonator that would be suitable for almost any application. It uses an insensitive explosive compound, HNS-IV, to eliminate the hazards inherent in the more common hot-wire detonators.
All of the detonator components, including the explosive, were manufactured from readily available starting materials. The HNS IV explosive meets EG&G specifications based on the military specifications. The detonator, packaged in a TO-5 can, comes in three configurations: a "plug in" detonator, a surface mount design, and a detonator that can be attached to a flexible cable. This paper will present the detonator design and test results. The full test report is contained in an EG&G Technical Report.