Design, development, and testing of a lightweight, composite sabot for the D-2 program

It is pointed out that strong, lightweight sabots are required to successfully launch guided, hypervelocity projectiles from electromagnetic launchers. The sabots must be lightweight to reduce parasitic mass and thus maximize the efficiency of the projectiles. Also, they must have sufficient strength to withstand high g loads over a length that is capable of providing the protection required for a long, instrumented, and guided projectile. The authors discuss a unique design for such a sabot, its fabrication as a six-segmented, graphic/epoxy assembly, and the successful performance of the sabot to 66000 g´s in a conventional 90-mm gun. A low mass demonstration projectile, also made of graphite epoxy, was mated with the sabot to obtain the desired inertial loads in the test gun