{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/29790"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/29790","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Experimental observations of aluminum particle combustion during hypervelocity water impact and penetration","abstract":"Experiments conducted at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have investigated the reaction between Al shaped charge jets and underwater environments. Although many qualitative and semi-quantitative characteristics are known, including pressure field augmentation, light emission from combusting material, and oxide-containing powder residues, the actual combus- tion mechanism has not been isolated. The difficulty of studying combustion in this physical situation is due to the extremely transient nature of the combustion and the difficulty of implementing common diagnostics. This research presents a novel approach to isolating the combustion which occurs between particulated jet material traveling at high velocities (1500 - 3000 m/s) in underwater environments as would be found in shaped charge jet penetration. A method of accelerating small packets (10 mg - 20 mg) of Al particles using a light gas gun was developed to simulate conditions experi- enced by particulated shaped charge jet material during water penetration. In particle sizes tested (75 um - 5 um), only large particles at high velocities (75 um - 45 um at velocities greater than 2500 m/s) exhibited evidence of combustion. XRD and SEM analyses were used to verify residue composition and to characterize individual particle morphology. XRD analysis yielded a global residue composition while SEM analysis gave a single particle compo- sition. Both analyses verified the presence or absence of oxidized material. Surprisingly, no oxidation was indicated in paricles smaller than 45 um even at velocities greater than 3000 m/s. Images of shaped charge residue and light gas gun experiment residue qualitatively verified similar particle oxidation and surface morphologies characterized by the presence of numerous hollow nodules and porous, oxidized surfaces. In addition, controlled experiments involving Al and Cu shaped charges fired into H2O and oil verified the particle sizes created during penetration and residue composition. It was found that 7% of an Al shaped charge liner reacted during penetration in open water targets. Oxidized and unoxidized particles in sizes ranging from 425 um - 10 um were created during penetration and combustion. No reaction was observed with Al jets fired into oil.","abstract_html":"Experiments conducted at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have investigated the reaction between Al shaped charge jets and underwater environments. Although many qualitative and semi-quantitative characteristics are known, including pressure field augmentation, light emission from combusting material, and oxide-containing powder residues, the actual combus- tion mechanism has not been isolated. The difficulty of studying combustion in this physical situation is due to the extremely transient nature of the combustion and the difficulty of implementing common diagnostics. This research presents a novel approach to isolating the combustion which occurs between particulated jet material traveling at high velocities (1500 - 3000 m/s) in underwater environments as would be found in shaped charge jet penetration. A method of accelerating small packets (10 mg - 20 mg) of Al particles using a light gas gun was developed to simulate conditions experi- enced by particulated shaped charge jet material during water penetration. In particle sizes tested (75 um - 5 um), only large particles at high velocities (75 um - 45 um at velocities greater than 2500 m/s) exhibited evidence of combustion. XRD and SEM analyses were used to verify residue composition and to characterize individual particle morphology. XRD analysis yielded a global residue composition while SEM analysis gave a single particle compo- sition. Both analyses verified the presence or absence of oxidized material. Surprisingly, no oxidation was indicated in paricles smaller than 45 um even at velocities greater than 3000 m/s. Images of shaped charge residue and light gas gun experiment residue qualitatively verified similar particle oxidation and surface morphologies characterized by the presence of numerous hollow nodules and porous, oxidized surfaces. In addition, controlled experiments involving Al and Cu shaped charges fired into H2O and oil verified the particle sizes created during penetration and residue composition. It was found that 7% of an Al shaped charge liner reacted during penetration in open water targets. Oxidized and unoxidized particles in sizes ranging from 425 um - 10 um were created during penetration and combustion. No reaction was observed with Al jets fired into oil.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Rudolphi, John"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Mechanical Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Glumac, Nick G.","Krier, Herman","Austin, Joanna M.","Stewart, Donald S."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012-02-06T20:17:15Z","date_published":"2012-02-06T20:17:15Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:29Z","subjects":["aluminum combustion","hypervelocity penetration","aluminum and water reaction","aluminum - water combustion","shaped charge","aluminum shaped charges","penetration"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2011 John Rudolphi"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/29790","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Glumac, Nick G.","Krier, Herman","Austin, Joanna M.","Stewart, Donald S."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Rudolphi, John"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2012-02-06T20:17:15Z","2011-12"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Dissertation / Thesis","text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Mechanical Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["aluminum combustion","hypervelocity penetration","aluminum and water reaction","aluminum - water combustion","shaped charge","aluminum shaped charges","penetration"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2011 John Rudolphi"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/29790"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Experiments conducted at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have investigated the reaction between Al shaped charge jets and underwater environments. Although many qualitative and semi-quantitative characteristics are known, including pressure field augmentation, light emission from combusting material, and oxide-containing powder residues, the actual combus- tion mechanism has not been isolated. The difficulty of studying combustion in this physical situation is due to the extremely transient nature of the combustion and the difficulty of implementing common diagnostics. This research presents a novel approach to isolating the combustion which occurs between particulated jet material traveling at high velocities (1500 - 3000 m/s) in underwater environments as would be found in shaped charge jet penetration. A method of accelerating small packets (10 mg - 20 mg) of Al particles using a light gas gun was developed to simulate conditions experi- enced by particulated shaped charge jet material during water penetration. In particle sizes tested (75 um - 5 um), only large particles at high velocities (75 um - 45 um at velocities greater than 2500 m/s) exhibited evidence of combustion. XRD and SEM analyses were used to verify residue composition and to characterize individual particle morphology. XRD analysis yielded a global residue composition while SEM analysis gave a single particle compo- sition. Both analyses verified the presence or absence of oxidized material. Surprisingly, no oxidation was indicated in paricles smaller than 45 um even at velocities greater than 3000 m/s. Images of shaped charge residue and light gas gun experiment residue qualitatively verified similar particle oxidation and surface morphologies characterized by the presence of numerous hollow nodules and porous, oxidized surfaces. In addition, controlled experiments involving Al and Cu shaped charges fired into H2O and oil verified the particle sizes created during penetration and residue composition. It was found that 7% of an Al shaped charge liner reacted during penetration in open water targets. Oxidized and unoxidized particles in sizes ranging from 425 um - 10 um were created during penetration and combustion. No reaction was observed with Al jets fired into oil.","Item withdrawn by Mark Zulauf (zulauf@illinois.edu) on 2011-11-07T15:34:12Z Item was in collections: University of Illinois Theses & Dissertations (ID: 1) No. of bitstreams: 1 Rudolphi_John.pdf: 99933664 bytes, checksum: 7e16d8b13d6e4dd2d6e6c71eb5771a60 (MD5)","Made available in DSpace on 2012-02-06T20:17:15Z (GMT). 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The difficulty of studying combustion in this physical situation is due to the extremely transient nature of the combustion and the difficulty of implementing common diagnostics. This research presents a novel approach to isolating the combustion which occurs between particulated jet material traveling at high velocities (1500 - 3000 m/s) in underwater environments as would be found in shaped charge jet penetration. A method of accelerating small packets (10 mg - 20 mg) of Al particles using a light gas gun was developed to simulate conditions experi- enced by particulated shaped charge jet material during water penetration. In particle sizes tested (75 um - 5 um), only large particles at high velocities (75 um - 45 um at velocities greater than 2500 m/s) exhibited evidence of combustion. XRD and SEM analyses were used to verify residue composition and to characterize individual particle morphology. XRD analysis yielded a global residue composition while SEM analysis gave a single particle compo- sition. Both analyses verified the presence or absence of oxidized material. Surprisingly, no oxidation was indicated in paricles smaller than 45 um even at velocities greater than 3000 m/s. Images of shaped charge residue and light gas gun experiment residue qualitatively verified similar particle oxidation and surface morphologies characterized by the presence of numerous hollow nodules and porous, oxidized surfaces. In addition, controlled experiments involving Al and Cu shaped charges fired into H2O and oil verified the particle sizes created during penetration and residue composition. It was found that 7% of an Al shaped charge liner reacted during penetration in open water targets. Oxidized and unoxidized particles in sizes ranging from 425 um - 10 um were created during penetration and combustion. No reaction was observed with Al jets fired into oil.","Item withdrawn by Mark Zulauf (zulauf@illinois.edu) on 2011-11-07T15:34:12Z Item was in collections: University of Illinois Theses & Dissertations (ID: 1) No. of bitstreams: 1 Rudolphi_John.pdf: 99933664 bytes, checksum: 7e16d8b13d6e4dd2d6e6c71eb5771a60 (MD5)","Made available in DSpace on 2012-02-06T20:17:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Rudolphi_John.pdf: 99933664 bytes, checksum: 7e16d8b13d6e4dd2d6e6c71eb5771a60 (MD5) license.txt: 4063 bytes, checksum: e10c3c6332ff0764acb79720c8b81825 (MD5)"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/29790"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2011 John Rudolphi"],"dc:subject":["aluminum combustion","hypervelocity penetration","aluminum and water reaction","aluminum - water combustion","shaped charge","aluminum shaped charges","penetration"],"dc:title":["Experimental observations of aluminum particle combustion during hypervelocity water impact and penetration"],"dc:type":["Dissertation / Thesis","text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Mechanical Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:29Z"}