Development of hermetic sealing processes for use in the fabrication of laser-ignited energetic components

Abstract

Although bridgewire energetic components have been baseline for numerous applicatiom, they have inherent safety limitations since they are subject to the effects of spurious electromagnetic pulses and electrostatic discharges. These safety concerns have been the driving force for the development of laser-ignited energetic components. This has been made possible by the design and development of novel processing techniques and through an undentanding of the laser ignition process. Several Werent laserignited components were fabricated and their firing characteristics with a fiber optic delivery system were investigated. Tests of the various designs were performed by loading them w i t h various energetic materials including CP/carbon black or HMX/carbon black blends. Neyer Sensitivity Tests to determine ignition thresholds were performed using either an AlGaAs laser diode or a cw-Nd:YAG laser as the ignition source. The results demonstrate how the carefid design and proCessing of laser-ignited components can signiticantly enhance the application of this technology. *Fellow, Member, AIAA, (513)865-3558.