Rifled aluminum barrel vs PVC driveband?
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This would be for a hybrid cannon. If the caliber would be 30mm using a 5mm (10mm also an option) thick aluminum tube firing projectiles with a PVC driveband; Would this be a durable design? Or would the aluminum rifling wear out too fast?
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Sorry, turns out the correct term is driving or rotating band, my bad.Moonbogg wrote:What's a PVC driveband?
It's used on artillery shells that are made of steel so they can't really use the rifling of the barrel. The driving band is a band that's wrapped around the shell near the bottom, and is made of a soft metal, often copper, into which the rifling can ding in.
Some machine guns and auto-cannons use rounds with a plastic driving bad because it makes the barrels last longer. Wich i why i was thinking of firing a steel projectile with a soft driving band like PVC thru an aluminum rifled barrel. Aluminum is quite cheap and easy to work on, which makes the whole rifling process a lot cheaper, faster and easier. If you could then keep this soft rifling alive as long as possible using the driving bands, that would be pretty nice.
- Moonbogg
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Thanks for explaining that. I wasn't familiar with that concept. It's kind of like a sabot but serves a different purpose. Pretty cool idea.
I have no idea how fast the rifling would wear out. Also, shoving the PVC sleeve into the rifling sounds like it could be a real pain in the ass. You'd have to hammer it in there, right? I'm sure it would work for a while at least.
Have you considered rifling the PVC instead and using the air resistance during flight to rotate the round? You could even come up with a simple way to heat a fixture and press it over the PVC to melt the grooves into the PVC or something like that.
I have no idea how fast the rifling would wear out. Also, shoving the PVC sleeve into the rifling sounds like it could be a real pain in the ass. You'd have to hammer it in there, right? I'm sure it would work for a while at least.
Have you considered rifling the PVC instead and using the air resistance during flight to rotate the round? You could even come up with a simple way to heat a fixture and press it over the PVC to melt the grooves into the PVC or something like that.
- jackssmirkingrevenge
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I think you'd need some pretty deep grooves in order to avoid the driving bands being stripped, and perhaps PVC isn't the best material either, I think something less brittle like UHMW would work better.
Synthetic driving bands are certainly used in some high performance machines, such as the 30mm projectiles fired by the A-10's legendary GAU-8/A cannon:
Synthetic driving bands are certainly used in some high performance machines, such as the 30mm projectiles fired by the A-10's legendary GAU-8/A cannon:
A pre-engraved driving band is probably a good idea, it worked well for the Kaiser Wilhelm Geschütz:You could even come up with a simple way to heat a fixture and press it over the PVC to melt the grooves into the PVC or something like that.
hectmarr wrote:You have to make many weapons, because this field is long and short life