Deformation and fracture failure of a high-speed long rod intercepted by linear explosively formed penetrators sequence

The fracture failure of a high-speed long rod has historically been a challenge. Since the flying plate and flying rod have a relatively low velocity, it is challenging to achieve a multi-stage fracture of the high-speed long rod within the range of existing technology. In this paper, the linear explosively formed penetrators (LEFPs) sequence with a stable flight velocity of 850 m/s were used to cut a high-speed long rod. We investigated the deformation and fracture of Φ10 mm tungsten alloy long rods having different length-diameter ratios (20, 26, 35) and different speeds (1200, 1400, 1600 m/s) by employing the LEFPs sequence with different spacings (0–40 mm) and different interception angles (30^◦, 60^◦). In the meantime, the fractured rods movement pattern was recorded with a high-speed camera to elucidate the change law of the length, speed, linear momentum, and angular momentum of fractured rods. It was found that the length loss rate of the fractured rods is as high as 27%. The fractured rods rotated around the center of mass, and the vertical speed change could reach up to 18% of the muzzle velocity of the long rod, and the greatest reduction of horizontal speed and momentum could reach 37%. The longer the interaction time between LEFPs sequence and the long rod, the more beneficial the failure of the long rod. The application of LEFPs sequence solved the difficult problem of disabling the high-speed long rod, and the quantitative analysis of the fracture failure of the long rod had an important sense for studying the terminal penetration effect of the fractured rods.