As for now, the little thing Zhou Changfeng started to draw was actually the design of hollow-charge ammunition.
This is a vital type of ammunition that has long been discovered in principle, but has not yet been applied on a large scale.
In 1888 AD, American engineer Charles Monroe discovered an interesting phenomenon during explosive experiments - the products of explosive explosions basically scattered outward along the normal line of the explosive surface.
Therefore, if the explosive is prefabricated into a concave shape, the energy after the explosion will be concentrated instead of spreading in all directions, so it can penetrate thicker objects. This is the Monroe effect, also known as the concentrated energy effect.
However, this discovery was not taken seriously and applied for a long time because of the lack of application objects - this effect is not very effective against solid reinforced concrete fortifications.
To deal with the thin-skinned tin can tanks from the European War, they were a bit overqualified - machine guns firing steel-core armor-piercing bullets and infantry throwing cluster grenades could blow up the steel plates, which were generally only about one centimeter long. Why bother with new things?
Because of this, ammunition developed based on the Monroe effect had no use until more heavily armored tanks appeared.
In 1930, American scientist Wood made a new discovery based on the Monroe effect - if a metal cover is placed on the conical explosive cavity, the armor-piercing capability will be further improved.
The results of this discovery have attracted the attention of countries around the world, and they have successively launched various experiments aimed at investigating such potential ammunition.
In Zhou Changfeng's impression, a small amount of early hollow-charge ammunition was already in use during the Spanish Civil War, such as rifle grenades specifically used for anti-tank.
However, these armor-piercing bullets are relatively primitive and not reasonable enough in design.
But despite this, the invention of armor-piercing bullets was still a disruptive development in the military.
In the past, to deal with armored targets, kinetic energy ammunition, that is, armor-piercing projectiles, was most suitable. However, if you want to launch it, you must have high bore pressure and high muzzle velocity. Cannons that meet this requirement are often very heavy.
Therefore, it is impossible to accompany the infantry in a timely manner, unable to be on call at any time, and has low mobility. It is often possible to only preset positions and wait for the enemy.
As for the lighter anti-tank guns, they are too weak and will soon be relegated to the second line and can be selectively ignored.
In this case, infantry units lack effective means of resistance against armored targets. Molotov cocktails and cluster grenades can only be used at close range, and the infantry accompanying enemy tanks are not here to travel.
The emergence of armor-piercing projectiles has changed the serious imbalance between offense and defense, giving front-line units more powerful means to fight against armored targets.
Due to the principle of hollow charges, its armor-piercing depth is only related to the charge amount, explosive type, charge type cover, and explosion height, so it does not depend on speed like armor-piercing projectiles.
It can be fired by artillery, propelled by rockets, thrown with bare hands, buried underground, etc. In short, without the need for "speed", the application range of new anti-tank ammunition has suddenly become wider.
Even though infantry units are still at a natural disadvantage when facing incoming armored targets, they have powerful means of confrontation. Tanks no longer dare to do whatever they want and need to think carefully before attacking.
However, due to the scarcity of technology accumulation and the rush of time, throughout the war, the designs of armor-piercing projectiles in various countries were unreasonable, which greatly affected the armor-piercing depth.
But in this regard, Zhou Changfeng has an extraordinary advantage.
For example, what shape and material is more reasonable for a medicine mask? What is the appropriate angle for the conical charge? What is the optimal explosion height?
These conclusions, which required a lot of experiments and data accumulation, were only a few sentences summarized in textbooks in later generations.
As a national defense student at North Central University, an old military engineering school, Zhou Changfeng is not a major in ammunition engineering, but has he never eaten pork and seen a pig run away?
The cone angle is 120 degrees, the explosion height is five times the diameter of the base, the material of the powder cover is high-density but not too soft, the rear baffle of the charge, the misaligned anti-rotation cover...
These are just small concepts that can be remembered at a glance. However, each one can significantly improve the performance of armor-piercing bullets. How much time and resources can be saved if they can be mastered quickly?
"Just write down two...the material of the medicine cover is copper, hiss...should you consider the lack of copper?"
After a lot of enthusiastic efforts, Zhou Changfeng was not satisfied, so he changed the paper and painted again.
He simply drew three sketches of infantry anti-tank weapons: anti-tank rifle grenades, anti-tank grenades, and recoilless rifle anti-tank rocket launchers.
His original intention was to allow the Ming Dynasty's military industry department to avoid detours and apply it first.
If war is inevitable, at least we can gain more of an upper hand. If we fight against the United States, we must use all our strength and go all out.
In fact, rockets are not simple or cheap. They are actually very expensive, and it is not easy to mass-produce them while ensuring yield.
In contrast, the launch tube itself is really low-tech. It does not withstand bore pressure, and the materials and processing are very random.
The biggest technical difficulty of the rocket is its propellant. It can be said that it is simple everywhere, but this aspect is very difficult.
It must not only meet basic performance requirements, but also have fast burning characteristics.
Because it is best for the rocket to burn out before it is discharged from the chamber. If this is not met and the tail flame continues to be sprayed after exiting the chamber, the soldier's face and eyes will be burned.
This is why the German RPzB-54 "Tank Killer" rocket launcher has a large shield, otherwise you need to wear a gas mask to launch it.
The technical difficulties of propellants have not been solved even in Germany, which is known to be full of black technologies. Because the commonly used nitrocellulose propellants are not convenient to pour and mold, if you want to improve them, you have to add additives such as diethylene glycol and nitrate esters. .
During the entire war, only the United States solved the two problems of fast burning and easy processing - the burning speed of the M9A1 "Bazooka" can reach 30m/s, while the RPzB-54 "Tank Killer" is only about 22m/s. .
"They are all things that seem easy and troublesome to make..." Zhou Changfeng rubbed his sore neck, walked out of the room and looked into the distance, sighing: "Why are Americans doing everything!"
He was distracted for a moment and suddenly thought of a question - would he be suspected if he submitted the design sketch of weapons and equipment to the Ordnance Bureau like this?
After struggling for a few seconds, he decided to put on some pretense.
No matter if you try to hide it or if you're pretending, if you are really asked about it then, you can't answer that you figured it out on your own, right?
So Zhou Changfeng took people to the armory to get some explosives, steel plates, wires and other blasting equipment, and then went to the engineer training ground of the Third Hun Brigade.
He held a knife in one hand and a block of TNT in the other. He casually made a dent in it, then plugged in the detonator, connected the wires, and finally buckled it onto the steel plate.
"Battal Commander, why are you doing this?"
"This is a concentrated energy effect, which can directionally concentrate the explosion power that spreads in all directions."
"Can it blast through this steel plate?"
"It probably won't work, because there is no metal medicine cover... Go, stay away."
Throughout the afternoon of this day, the sound of explosions from the engineering training ground continued intermittently, and did not stop until the sun went down.
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[Monroe (energy concentration) effect]
