Applications of composites to armaments

The U.S. Army Materials Technology Laboratory (MTL) has been engaged in investigating the feasibility of applying composite materials to the lightening of artillery structural components since about 1982. In this period a number of efforts were carried out either in-house at MTL or by supporting organizations, including Benet Laboratory and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, aimed at investigating applications to various components of towed artillery. Salient features of these efforts and some important conclusions that have come out of them are described. In addition to organic matrix composites, discontinuously reinforced metal matrix composites appear to have great potential for weight reduction in this type of application.