McAlester, Okla " The Technology Development Directorate, a division within the Defense Ammunition Center (DAC), assisted the Naval Surface Weapons Center (NSWC) in Indian Head, Md. in developing an economically feasible demil solution.

The US Navy at NSWC requested a demil review by DAC of a Cartridge Actuated Device (CAD) containing beryllium-copper alloy components. NSWC in particular wanted to know the impacts of this item if demiled in the standard US Army Ammunition Peculiar Equipment (APE) 1236M2 Deactivation Furnace.

“The furnace incineration technology is mature and is being used widely by the combustion industries,” said Dr. Solim Kwak, DAC Scientific Advisor, “ but the main issue with the proposal was the cartridge contained a terminal stud made of beryllium making demilitarization of the cartridge difficult.”

“During the incineration process in the APE 1236M2, the thermal treatment may cause some of the exposed part of the beryllium-copper alloy to oxidize, causing flaking of the alloy,” explained Kwak.

The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists and Occupational Safety and Health Administration have determined that beryllium oxides and compounds are suspected human carcinogens. “They are very toxic, especially by inhalation of beryllium dust particles,” expressed Kwak.

As a team effort, DAC provided NSWC with known occupational safety and health problems with beryllium-copper alloys and as a result , NSWC decided to replace the beryllium-copper alloy electric terminals with stainless steel terminals. On a financial note, the beryllium costs $350.00 per pound versus $5.00 per pound for stainless cost, so the solution also saved the American government and the taxpayer.

“This is the first time, to my knowledge, that a design for demil review has been conducted on a munition item in the active inventory and the results will serve as an example to all munitions design agencies of the importance of design for demil.” said Mr. Terry Trivitt, Chief of the Munitions Operations Division.