Army Scientists Build New Weapons for War in 2050

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By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

(Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md) The weapons, tactics and materials used in warfare in 2040 may now be taking shape with a quiet, intensely focused group of Army Research Laboratory scientists now testing and manufacturing materials in anticipation of uncovering paradigm-changing new weapons and technologies for war.

Army Research Laboratory

“The focus of our research is to non destructively evaluate the microstructure of materials to get full three dimensional information that lets us determine optimal processing conditions to engineer better-performing materials for the soldiers – we understand that critical information about defects, their size, their location there shapes and we can minimize those defects by adjusting processing conditions,” Dr. Jennifer Sietins, Materials Engineer, Army Research Laboratory, told Warrior in an interview. “We look at metals, composites, ceramics, polymers, ceramic armor and energetic materials.”

Much of the scientific work includes pure creativity and visionary thinking wherein ARL experts simply “innovate” by exploring new layers, mixtures and configurations of materials at the microscopic level. Sietins explained that many of the techniques not only include the use of different combinations of materials but continued exploration of “how” materials are engineered.

“We are looking at adjusting the processing times, the temperatures, and pressures…..and we’re also altering the compositions,” Sietins told Warrior.

Much of the process itself is referred to as “additive manufacturing” wherein materials with specific value-added properties are mixed, blended and produced together in layers. Dr. Nicholas Ku, Army Research Laboratory Materials Engineer, Ceramic and Transparent Materials Branch, Army Futures Command, explained this process to Warrior, saying that the volume, composition and layering of materials such as silicon carbide can be adjusted in search of new combinations with improved properties.