Towards Safer Primers: A Review
by
Stefan Lundgaard 1,2,*
, Soon Hock Ng 1,2, Damien Cahill 3, Johan Dahlberg 3, Dong Ruan 1, Nerida Cole 1, Paul R. Stoddart 1 and Saulius Juodkazis 1,2
Stefan Lundgaard 1,2,*, Soon Hock Ng 1,2, Damien Cahill 3, Johan Dahlberg 3, Dong Ruan 1, Nerida Cole 1, Paul R. Stoddart 1 and Saulius Juodkazis 1,2
1
Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, John Street, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia
2
Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication, ANFF, 151 Wellington Road, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia
3
DefendTex Pty Ltd., 46 Bessemer Drive, Dandenong South, Victoria 3175, Australia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Technologies 2019, 7(4), 75; https://doi.org/10.3390/technologies7040075
Received: 14 August 2019 / Revised: 9 October 2019 / Accepted: 14 October 2019 / Published: 18 October 2019
Primers are used to reliably initiate a secondary explosive in a wide range of industrial and defence applications. However, established primer technologies pose both direct and indirect risks to health and safety. This review analyses a new generation of primer materials and ignition control mechanisms that have been developed to address these risks in firearms. Electrically or optically initiated metal, oxide and semiconductor-based devices show promise as alternatives for heavy metal percussive primers. The prospects for wider use of low-cost, safe, reliable and non-toxic primers are discussed in view of these developments.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
primers; semiconductor bridges; thermites; energetic materials
▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Lundgaard, S.; Ng, S.H.; Cahill, D.; Dahlberg, J.; Ruan, D.; Cole, N.; Stoddart, P.R.; Juodkazis, S. Towards Safer Primers: A Review. Technologies 2019, 7, 75.
Show more citation formats
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
