Temperature and heat transfer at the commencement of rifling of a 155 mm gun

Interlaken, Switzerland : 19th International Symposium of Ballistics, 7–11 May 2001. – 307-314 pp.The temperature and heat transfer per round has been measured at the bore surface of a 155 mm AS90 extended range ordnance. The ammunition was fired with and without wear-reducing additive and the measurements were made using an eroding-type surface thermocouple having response time of about a microsecond. The heat transfer was computed from the measured temperaturetime curves. It was found that the wear-reducing additive gradually reduced the surface temperature fluctuation from about 950°C to about 600°C, and reduced heat transfer per round from about 950 kJ/m2 to about 600 kJ/m2, over a period of fifty rounds. From these measurements an assessment was made of the wear rate, the number of rounds to cook-off, and the increase in barrel fatigue life.