ADVANCED PROCESSES FOR NEXT GENERATION ENERGETIC MATERIALS AND MODERNIZATION OF THE INDUSTRIAL BASE

The US Army RDECOM-ARDEC maintains and develops Energetic Materials as a critical competency. To successfully accomplish this, key mission functions center on: the ability to monitor advanced Technology Developments within the world; identification of the best in class technologies available to resolve energetics issues with military systems; coordinate and facilitate the linkage between technology providers to people who understand the systems that can impact warfighter needs and gaps to generate effective solutions; and to demonstrate and transition those solutions to military systems for fielding; and transfer the process methodology to the industrial base. Focus is on the development of new materials and compounds, and novel processes to improve sensitivity and performance as well as cost effectiveness, efficiency in production, and ability to leverage commercial capabilities. The existing industrial base for energetics is not capable of producing the next generation of energetic materials being developed in the nation's laboratories today for DoD applications. In order to produce these materials, several advanced processes for fabrication and loading will need to be developed at the pilot scale and beyond in order to benefit the warfighter. The subject of this presentation is a series of advanced processing methods being developed by the ARDEC to process these materials and their transition to the National Technology and Industrial Base (NTIB) for Ammunition.

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MR. MARK J. MEZGER is Senior Technology Advisor for Energetics Development Initiatives at the US Army Armament Research Development and Engineering Center at Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, where he earlier held positions in the Office of the Director of Technology, and the Business Interface Office. Through the establishment of public-private partnerships, Mr. Mezger created a national nanotechnology network with regional areas of expertise. He also served as RDECOM Nanotechnology Integrated Product Team Chair. Through his associations with the Pennsylvania Nano Materials Commercialization Center technical advisory board, the Lehigh Valley Nanotechnology Network, and the Greater Garden State Nanotechnology Alliance, he has established for the Army one of the largest nano particle reactor facilities in North America and is currently involved in applying this technology to explosive and reactive materials. His MS in Technology Management is from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Bachelor of Science degrees in Math-Physics and in Engineering Science are from the SUNY at Buffalo.