The effect of lining segmentation on the reliability of hybrid ceramic/steel gun barrels

The effect of alpha-SiC-lining segmentation on the failure probability of a gun-barrel lining during single-shot and burst firing events has been studied by combining finite-element method based thermo-mechanical calculations with the Weibull statistical structural reliability analysis. The results obtained reveal that, due to a lining/jacket slippage near the barrel ends and due to alpha-SiC-lining/Cr-MOV-steel-jacket thermal-expansion mismatch, tensile axial stresses develop in both single-piece and segmented ceramic liners near the barrel ends. These stresses can become sufficiently high, particularly during the burst firing case, so that they can induce formation of the circumferential cracks and, in turn, lining failure. The lining failure probability has been computed for a single-round and a ten-round burst firing mode. Lining segmentation is found to be beneficial, particularly in the ten-round case where it can reduce the lining failure probability by as much as 18%. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.