Carbon fiber wraps around the barrel
In pursuit of long-range accuracy, sniper rifles usually have heavy barrels to ensure accuracy, which makes the guns slightly less portable. The MPR sniper rifle from Christensen Weapons solves this problem by wrapping carbon fiber around a smaller diameter barrel.
Carbon fiber materials are as diverse as metals, and as alloys with different combinations of metal elements vary, so do carbon fibers, adhesives, molding techniques, and manufacturing processes that produce products with different properties. Christensen Weapons has been in development for many years, and in 1995 introduced the first barrel with a wrapped carbon fiber material.
Carbon fiber wound barrel has three main advantages: it can greatly reduce the mass of the barrel; The barrel has more heat dissipation and is More rigid than a barrel of the same mass. The heat capacity of the light barrel equipped with conventional firearms is relatively small. During continuous firing, the barrel is prone to deformation due to overheating, resulting in greatly reduced shooting accuracy. This is why heavy barrels are so popular for accurate shooting, as they can maintain good accuracy while firing continuously.
Proof Research, a firearms development company based in Montana, US, has produced a carbon-fiber coated barrel that dramatically improves shooting accuracy, durability, and barrel life, National Defense reported. The carbon fiber barrel has no scaling limitations, and we continue to explore the possibility of eventually using this barrel in weapons for tanks, aircraft, and warships.
The carbon fiber-wrapped barrel is 64 percent lighter than a traditional steel barrel and improves heat dissipation, which reduces the temperature of the barrel and extends its service life, in addition to reducing the vibration of the gun. The design method ensures that the stress state of the barrel is consistent with a variety of different temperature ranges. Using carbon fiber technology, weight can be reduced without sacrificing performance.
Prepreg multi-angle, multilayer layering method to ensure the strength of the barrel in multiple directions.
Carbon fiber composite machine gun support
Carbon fiber composite machine gun support is different from metal material, carbon fiber composite machine gun support is anisotropic, and the main requirement is to solve the longitudinal plane vibration problem. Therefore, we make use of this property of composite material, in order to increase its longitudinal stiffness, choose the layup design and winding Angle to meet the stiffness requirements of the gun frame structure.
For composite materials, their stiffness and other parameters can be designed, which are directly related to the winding Angle of carbon fiber. According to the theory of laminar bending, the laminar beam is in a pure bending state under the action of external forces. In order to meet the bending strength of the original frame rod, the equal stiffness design method is adopted to ensure the dynamic matching characteristics of the structure. The stiffness of the gun frame should be equivalent to that of the original steel structure when designing the gun frame, and then the cross-section form and structure size of the front and rear frames should be determined according to the winding Angle and other factors to ensure that the longitudinal stiffness will not be weakened. In order to ensure longitudinal stiffness, two paving methods can be used: one is to use the small winding Angle or plane winding method, and the other is to use the longitudinal paving method. According to the use of equipment, the final use of longitudinal layup and spiral winding method combined.
The large-caliber machine gun frame made of carbon fiber composite material can greatly reduce the weight of the machine gun and improve its maneuverability. Compared with the steel frame, the weight of the carbon fiber composite frame is reduced by 25%. The weight of the machine gun frame is reduced greatly when carbon fiber composite material is used. Under the condition of greatly reducing the mass of the machine gun frame, the machine gun can still guarantee the spread accuracy of continuous firing and has been improved. The results of structural dynamic analysis and distribution accuracy test show that it is feasible to manufacture machine gun frames with carbon fiber reinforced epoxy resin, which opens up a new way for the gun frame design.
The Springfield Armory's 2020 Waypoint rifle has won On Target magazine's annual Editors' Choice award.
Carbon fiber composite stock
The regular model has a stainless steel barrel with a notched face, while the more advanced model has a BSF carbon fiber wrapped barrel, each with a 0.75MOA accuracy guarantee. The carbon fiber-wrapped barrel does not feel a significant heat increase after 10 rounds of continuous firing. The stock is clad in carbon fiber made by AG Composites.
Merkel Jagd- und Sportwaffen GmbH in Sur, Germany has officially launched a new hunting gun. Its highlight is a rifle stock made of carbon fiber, developed and manufactured by COTESA GmbH, a Mitveda supplier of aircraft and cars.
Carbon fiber composite cartridge
Modern hunting rifles must be subject to a lot of heavy regulation, but they must also be easy to handle and, of course, able to shoot accurately. However, sporting rifles tend to become heavier rather than lighter due to various add-ons and accessory modules, and Merkle's "Helix Carbon" new development focuses on the rifle stock. As a composite material, carbon fiber is very strong, lightweight, and elegant in appearance. The carbon fiber multi-piece rifle stock also has a soft, tactile surface in the area of the hunter's cheek or grip area. This ensures a particularly secure grip, making it possible to fire accurate bullets. Bullet development to today, has long been from the past simple style and single function, has evolved into more scientific content, the function is the more diversified product. A complete bullet is usually made up of four parts: the projectile, the shell case, and the primer, and each part is completed independently in the production process, and more than one hundred complicated processes are required in the production of a bullet.
For a long time, the developed countries in the world have been exploring the field of light weapons and ammunition. All along, the raw materials for the production of shell casing are mainly brass and steel, steel is used as raw materials in China and Russia, and brass is mainly used in Europe and America. Now there is a "composite cartridge". These composite materials, such as cellulose, nylon, and polyurethane prepolymers, are used to prepare composite shells, shell shoulders,s, and shell necks. The bullet still uses a warhead, primer, and ammunition, but the casing is made of composite material. The composite casings are machined by injection molding and then cold-machined with the brass casings base. This includes the use of recessed injection molding to insert the bullet into the composite cartridge body so that the shell mouth automatically seals, eliminating the need for the tight mouth and coating process commonly used in metal shells to ensure that the cartridge is waterproof and moisture-resistant.
lightweight
The most important difference between the composite casing and the brass casing is that the weight is reduced by up to 30 to 40 percent. This may not appeal to the average consumer, but it has very real implications for the military.
The lightweight bullet also has higher accuracy, muzzle velocity, and better ballistic performance. When switching to a polymer cartridge, you'll be able to carry more ammunition with less weight. Seven 30-round magazines for a total of 210 rounds are standard for soldiers. With composite shells instead, soldiers can carry 300 rounds with the same load. If they are still armed with 210 rounds, the soldier can carry more water or equipment necessary for the mission.
Ammunition transportation costs are also very expensive, each aircraft is equipped with guns, and ammunition weight is very considerable. The reduction in the weight of bullets can reduce the number or number of transport vehicles used in the logistics support of troops, greatly reducing transport costs and shortening transport time.
Thermal conductivity
Another advantage of a composite cartridge is the way it conducts heat. Heat is an important factor in every firearm. The composite cartridge is an insulator, and the brass is a heat-conducting material. When a brass cartridge is fired, the heat and pressure from the cartridge will be transferred to the chamber and barrel, creating high temperature and pressure in the chamber, accelerating the wear of the barrel material and shortening the service life of the barrel. Due to the high specific heat capacity of composite materials, namely the poor thermal conductivity, the heat on the bullet cannot be easily transferred to the chamber and barrel, so as to reduce the heat accumulation on the barrel and inside the barrel in the process of rapid firing, slow down the wear and ablation of the barrel materials, and prolong the service life of the barrel.
Stability in different environments
Heat transfer also affects the stability of ammunition in different environments. Because composite casings do not have much effect on bullets in different environments, bullets from composite casings tend to behave more stable in different environments.
