Aug 25, 2026

US12716700 - Explosive foil initiator (EF) with enhanced detonation energy

An EFI or LEEFI that provides enhanced detonation energy sufficient to directly detonate a main charge to improve the reliability and ease the qualification of an explosive firing train. This is accomplished by forming the EFI's output charge from an explosive material typically used as a booster explosive (e.g., PBXN-5, CH-6 and Composition A5) rather than a primary explosive and making the diameter of the output charge greater than the diameter of the barrel thus increasing the total mass of the output charge. For use in military grade munitions, the EFI's casing is formed with one or more vent holes radially adjacent the output charge.

Assignee: Raytheon Company
Inventors: Coulton T. Sadler, Eric D. Goertz, Montgomery Carlo, Christopher F. Williams
Filing date: 2024-11-20

explosivemilitarymunitions

The patent describes an explosive foil initiator (EFI) designed to enhance detonation energy by using a larger output charge made from booster explosives, which improves the reliability of explosive firing systems. The initiator features a unique casing with vent holes and a circuit that activates a flyer plate to detonate the charge, making it suitable for military-grade munitions.

Claim 1

1 . An explosive foil initiator (EFI), comprising: a lower metal casing; a circuit positioned in the bottom of the casing having leads extending therethrough; a barrel having an opening therethrough positioned above the circuit, said barrel having an outer diameter D b , an upper metal casing; an output charge in the upper casing positioned against and substantially aligned to the barrel opening, said output charge having a diameter D oc >D b , wherein the output charge has a detonation threshold of between 1 to 3 Gpa of shock pressure; a plastic liner positioned around the output charge, wherein the upper metal casing includes one or more vent holes that expose the plastic liner; wherein said circuit is configured to respond to the application of an electrical stimulus to the leads to accelerate a flyer plate through the barrel opening to impact and detonate the output charge. a lower metal casing; a circuit positioned in the bottom of the casing having leads extending therethrough; a barrel having an opening therethrough positioned above the circuit, said barrel having an outer diameter D b , an upper metal casing; an output charge in the upper casing positioned against and substantially aligned to the barrel opening, said output charge having a diameter D oc >D b , wherein the output charge has a detonation threshold of between 1 to 3 Gpa of shock pressure; a plastic liner positioned around the output charge, wherein the upper metal casing includes one or more vent holes that expose the plastic liner; wherein said circuit is configured to respond to the application of an electrical stimulus to the leads to accelerate a flyer plate through the barrel opening to impact and detonate the output charge.

Google Patents

https://patents.google.com/patent/US12716700

USPTO PDF

https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/12716700