Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

SHAPED CHARGE

Specialty Definition: SHAPED CHARGE

DomainDefinition

Mining

An explosive contained in a case so shaped as to concentrate the power of the explosion in one small area. Shaped charges are used in armor-penetrating weapons, such as the bazooka, for tapping open-hearth furnaces, for cutting deep-well linings, and for breaking boulders. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Shaped charge

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to focus the released energy. It is used to cut and form metal, ignite nuclear weapons, and penetrate armour. A modern shaped charge can commonly penetrate about 7 times the diameter of the charge.

An armour-piercing explosion creates a small coin-sized hole in the armour, so the destructive effect mainly comes from shrapnel spalled from the inside of the plating.

Shaped charges are frequently used in anti-tank missiles and mortar shells. An important nonmilitary use of shaped charges is to cut large pieces of metal in confined areas, especially during rescues.

Design

There are several basically different forms of shaped charge.

Metal-cutting charges are flat triangles of plastic explosive (usually plastique). A blasting cap detonator is placed in the point of the triangle. The triangle is laid down with the wide end wrapped around the material to cut. When the blast reaches the end of the explosive, it is reflected into the metal, cutting it.

A scissors charge is two of the above triangular charges, placed on opposite sides of the metal, on opposite sides of the cutting line. They must be sized and timed so the blast wave of each arrives at the same time at the cutting line. The opposing blast waves shear the metal.

Differential cones transfer momentum from the explosive to another material, usually a metal such as copper, with a speed of sound different from the speed of the blast in the explosive. The slope of the cone is chosen so that the speed of the blast at the surface of the cone is equal to the speed of sound of the metal on the surface of the cone. The result is usually a dense drop or slug of fluid moving at hypersonic speeds. The slug penetrates armour. This is also called the Monroe effect, discovered in 1883.

Differential cones are easy to manufacture. Usually the penetrator cone is swaged to a casing, and the explosive is cast inside the resulting shape.

Explosive lenses are machined (usually) from an alloy of a rigid explosive with a compatible plastic. The surface of the lens is calculated to cause the blast front to go where desired. This is possible because the blast ignition in the explosive almost always moves at a different speed than the shockwave in the explosive reaction products.

Some explosive lenses (notably those in nuclear weapons) use two different materials with different speeds of ignition.

The ignition wave is presumed to start as a circular expanding wavefront around the blasting cap. In precision lenses, the shockwave is started from an electrically exploded wire called an initiator.

Linear The explosive charge is covered by a liner, but in the shape of a flat plane.

Platter or the Misznay-Schardin effect, discovered in 1944)- A solid piece of metal, with a quantity of explosives placed on only one side or plane, an idea used in the Claymore mine.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Shaped charge."

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: SHAPED CHARGE

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day

shaped charge

13
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: SHAPED CHARGE

Language Translations for "SHAPED CHARGE"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Danish

  

monroeeffektstraale (Monroe effect jet, shaped charge jet), hul ladningsstraale (Monroe effect jet, shaped charge jet). (various references)

   

Dutch

  

holle-ladingeffectstraal (Monroe effect jet, shaped charge jet). (various references)

   

Finnish

  

Monroen ilmiöön perustuva suihku (Monroe effect jet, shaped charge jet). (various references)

   

French

  

jet par effet Monroe (shaped charge jet). (various references)

   

German

  

Monroeeffektstrahl (Monroe effect jet, shaped charge jet), Hohlladungsstrahl (Monroe effect jet, shaped charge jet). (various references)

   

Greek 

  

πίδακας προκαλούμενος από το φαινόμενο Monroe (Monroe effect jet, shaped charge jet). (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

kummulatív töltet. (various references)

   

Italian

  

getto per effetto monroe (Monroe effect jet, shaped charge jet), getto di una carica cava (Monroe effect jet, shaped charge jet). (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

指向性爆薬 . (various references)

   

Japanese Katakana 

  

し"うせいばくやく. (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

apedshay argechay

   

Portuguese

  

jacto por efeito Monroe (Monroe effect jet, shaped charge jet). (various references)

   

Spanish

  

haz de efecto Monroe (Monroe effect jet, shaped charge jet). (various references)

   

Swedish

  

Monroeeffektstråle (Monroe effect jet, shaped charge jet). (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Anagrams: SHAPED CHARGE

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Words within the letters "a-a-c-d-e-e-g-h-h-p-r-s"

-3 letters: headaches, headgears, headraces, headspace, scarehead, spearhead.

-4 letters: acreages, charades, earaches, ephedras, escapade, escarped, gearcase, hardcase, headache, headgear, headrace, peachers, preached, preaches, presaged, rehashed, reshaped, respaced, scarphed, searched, shadrach, shepherd.

-5 letters: acreage, adheres, apaches, arcades, cadgers, capered, chadars, charade, charged, charges, cheaper, cheders, crashed, creased, decares, dragees, earache, echards, eparchs, ephedra, escaped, escaper, graphed.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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INDEX

1. Expressions: Internet
2. Translations: Modern
3. Anagrams
4. Bibliography


  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.