Energetic structural materials (ESMs) have many potential military applications due to their unique functions. In this work, the reactivity and penetration performance of ESMs have been examined as a shaped charge liner material. The penetration experiments of nickel-aluminum (Ni-Al) and copper-nickel-aluminum (Cu-Ni-Al)-shaped charge liners (SCLs) have been designed and fired into 45# steel. The targets were recovered and analyzed by optical microscopy, electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and Vickers microhardness measurements. The head and tail of the crater walls penetrated by two reactive jets demonstrated unique microstructures. The jet rapidly decayed with the penetration process, but the "white" zone (a mixture of martensite and austenite) was more prominent in the tail, and the microhardness of the tail was much higher than that of the head. The results showed the continued exotherm of Ni-Al reactive jet when it was fired into the target. The addition of Cu reduced the exotherm of Ni-Al, Cu could not only increase the average crater size, but also raise the average penetration depth by 42%. These results offer valuable insight for utilizing ESM as shaped charge liner materials.
Keywords: Ni-Al; energetic structural materials; microstructure analysis; penetration performance; shaped charge liner.