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Return to Terminology
F
- F.A.E. (Fuel Air Explosive)
- A chemical which will detonate when mixed with ambient air
which is required to maintain the detonations oxygen balance. An example is propylene
oxide.
- Feasibility Study
- A much misused and over-used term to denote the determination
of the practicability, advisability or adaptability of an item or technique for an
intended purpose.
- Fertilizer
- A fertilizer may be an organic or inorganic material added to
the soil to replace or increase plant nutrients. Organic fertilizers - including animal
and green manure, fish and bone meal, guano (seabird excrement), and compost - are
decomposed by soil microorganisms, and their elements are freed for plant use. Most
inorganic or chemical fertilizers contain the major nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and
potassium) in proportions required by the crop. Properly used, fertilizers increase crop
yields; they do not affect a crop's nutritive properties unless specifically intended to
do so.
- Fertilizer-Grade Ammonium Nitrate
- A grade of ammonium nitrate as defined by The Fertilizer
Institute.
- Field Expedient
- A material or technique which can be put together or operated
from available materials and simple descriptions in emergencies especially behind lines or
in guerrilla warfare.
- Fin
- A fixed or adjustable vane or airfoil
affixed longitudinally to an aerodynamically or ballistically designed body for
stabilizing purposes.
- Fin Stabilization
- Method of stabilizing a projectile, bomb or missile during
flight by the fitting of fins.
- Firing Current
- An electric current of recommended magnitude and duration to
sufficiently energize an electric detonator or a circuit of electric detonators.
- Firing Device
- Any item designed to initiate by mechanical means a blasting
cap or an igniter.
- Firing Line
- The wire(s) connecting the electrical power source with the
electric blasting circuit.
- First Fire
- The igniter composition used with pyrotechnic devices that is
loaded in direct contact with the main pyrotechnic charge. A pyrotechnic first fire
composition is compounded to produce a high temperature and hot slag. The composition must
be readily ignitable and capable of igniting the underlying pyrotechnic charge.
- Fixed Ammunition
- Ammunition with primer and propellant powder contained in a
cartridge case permanently crimped or attached to a projectile. Loaded into a weapon as a
unit. Usually termed "cartridge."
- Fixed Round
- Round of fixed ammunition.
- Flame
- A chemical reaction or reaction product, partly or entirely
gaseous, that yields heat and light. State of blazing combustion. A flame profile is a
temperature profile of any particular flame.
- Flame Temperature
- Adiabatic Flame Temperature.
- Flammability
- The ease with which an explosive material may be ignited by
flames and heat.
- Flare
- A pyrotechnical device designed to produce a single source of
intense light or radiation for relatively long durations for target or airfield
illumination, signaling or other purposes.
- Flash Reducer
- Any material for use with a propelling charge to reduce its
muzzle flash.
- Flashover
- The sympathetic detonation between explosive charges or
between charged blastholes.
- Flash Point
- The lowest temperature at which vapors from a volatile
combustible substance ignite in air when exposed to flame, as determined in an apparatus
specifically designed for such testing.
- Flat Trajectory
- Trajectory with little curvature produced by a projectile with
a high velocity.
- Flechette
- (French, "a small arrow")
- 1) An aerial dart.
- 2) A small fin stabilized missile, a large number of which can
be loaded in artillery canister.
- 3) Stabilized fragment having a pointed nose and finned tail.
- Flight Test Certification
- A limited series of tests conducted on an item or system prior
to formal qualification to determine if it meets the safety requirements.
- Fluid Mechanics
- A branch of Mechanics dealing
with the properties and behavior of fluids, or substances that flow, i.e., liquids and
gases. The larger part of the field is fluid dynamics (study of fluids in motion), which
itself is divided into hydrodynamics (study of liquids in motion) and Aerodynamics (study of gases in motion).
- FLSC (Flexible Linear Shaped Charge)
- A flexible detonating fuse which is specially shaped to
produce a cutting jet. Linear version of shaped charge.
- Force
- A term convenient in interior ballistic theory, which is
defined as the product of the number of mols of gas per gram of propellant and the
adiabatic-constant-volume flame temperature.
- The term force comes from the Latin word for
“strength”. In physics, force is defined by Newton’s laws of motion and a
force is considered that which can impose a change of velocity on a material body. In
physics, force is described as a quantity that produces a change in the size or shape ( Strength Of Materials) or the Motion
of a body. Commonly experienced as a “push” or “pull,” force is a
vector quantity, having both magnitude and direction. Four basic types of force are known
in nature. The gravitational force ( Gravitation) and the
electromagnetic force ( Electricity; Magnetism)
both have an infinite range. The strong nuclear force, or strong interaction, is a
short-range force holding the atomic nucleus together, and the weak nuclear force, or weak
interaction, is a short-range force associated with radioactivity and particle decay.
Scientists have not been able to confirm the existence of a hypothesized fifth force, a
very weak force supposed to counteract gravitation. In the Metric
System forces are measured in such units as the dyne (cgs system) and the newton
(mks system), which cause accelerations of, respectively, 1 cm/sec2 on a 1-gram mass and 1
m/sec2 on a 1-kg mass. In English Units Of Measurement the
pound (lb) is used. A 1-lb force equals 444,823 dynes; 1 dyne equals 10-5 newtons.
Force = Mass X Acceleration  - Force Cone
- Tapered beginning of the lands at the origin of the rifling of
a gun tube. The forcing cone allows the rotating band of the projectile to be gradually
engaged by the rifling thereby centering the projectile in the bore.
- Forced Entry
- The utilization of force (mechanically or explosively
generated) to gain entry to the target area. Generally, this term is used when discussing
entry through conventional breach points, particularly doors.
- Form Coefficient
- Factor used in form functions to describe the ratio of burning
surface to fraction burned.
- Form Function
- Mathematical expression relating burning rate to propellant
grain geometry.
- Formaldehyde
- Formaldehyde or methanal (HCHO), a colorless, flammable,
poisonous gas with a suffocating odor. Pure gaseous formaldehyde is uncommon, because it
readily polymerizes into solid paraformaldehyde. Formalin, a 40% by volume solution of
formaldehyde in water, is used as an antiseptic, disinfectant, and preservative for
biological specimens. Formaldehyde is also used to make dykes, Plastics,
and synthetic Resins.
- Fragmentation
- The breaking and scattering in all directions of the pieces of
a projectile, bomb or grenade.
- The breaking of a solid mass into pieces by blasting.
- Francium
- Francium (Fr), radioactive element, discovered in 1939 by
Marguerite Perey as a disintegration product of actinium. Some of the 21 known isotopes of
this rare Alkali Metal are prepared by bombarding thorium
with protons, deuterons, or alpha particles. Element; Periodic Table.
- Frangible
- A material which breaks into a powder or small fragments.
- Free-Standing Grain
- A solid propellant grain which is molded or extruded prior to
loading into a rocket case.
- Freon
- Freon, trade name for any of a special class of chemical
compounds used as refrigerants, aerosol propellants, and solvents. Freons are Hydrocarbon derivatives that contain fluorine and often
chlorine and bromine as well. They are generally colorless, odorless, nontoxic,
noncorrosive, and nonflammable. Though usually unreactive, freons are now suspected to
undergo reactions in the upper atmosphere that may damage the earth's Ozone layer.
The most commonly used is Freon-12, or dichlorodifluoromethane (CCl2F2).
- Friction
- Friction, resistance offered to the movement of one body past
another body with which it is in contact. The amount of friction depends on the nature of
the contact surfaces and on the magnitude of the force pressing the two bodies together,
but not on the surface area of the contact surface. The coefficient of friction is the
ratio of the force necessary to move one body horizontally over another at a constant
speed to the weight of the body. Fluid friction, observed in the flow of liquids and
gases, is minimized in airplanes by a modern, streamlined design ( Aerodynamics).
- Fuel
- A substance that may react with oxygen to produce combustion.
In pyrotechnics, anything combustible such as sulfur, aluminum powder, iron powder,
plastic binder; opposite: oxidizer.
- Fuel Cell
- An electric cell in which the chemical energy from the
oxidation of a gas fuel is converted directly to electrical energy in a continuous
process. In the hydrogen and oxygen fuel cell, hydrogen and oxygen gas are bubbled into
separate compartments connected by a porous disk through which an Electrolyte, such as aqueous potassium hydroxide (KOH), can
pass. Inert graphite electrodes, mixed with a catalyst such as platinum, are dipped into
each compartment. When the two electrodes are electrically connected, an Oxidationand
reduction reaction takes place in the cell: hydrogen gas is oxidized to form water at the
anode; electrons are liberated in this process and flow through the external circuit to
the cathode, where the electrons combine with the oxygen gas and reduce it. Fuel cells
have been used to generate electricity in spacecraft.
- Fulminate Of Mercury
- Mercury Fulminate.
- Fume Classification
- IME Fume Classification.
- Fumes
- The gaseous products of an explosion. For the purpose of fume
classification, only poisonous or toxic gases, such as carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide,
and nitrogen oxides are considered.
- Functional Group
- A functional group in organic chemistry is a group of atoms
within a molecule that is responsible for certain properties of the molecule and reactions
in which it takes part.
- Functioning Time
- In an EED, the lapsed time between application of initiating
energy and some later function such as bridgewire break, case opening or start of pressure
rise, peak pressure, etc.
- Fuse
- An igniting or explosive device in the form of a string or
tube which contains a pyrochemical mixture. Slow burning fuse is called (commercially)
Bickford fuse; other types; quickmatch, firecracker fuse, detonating cord (prima cord).
MDF and SCID. Safety Fuse.
- Fuse Cap (Fuse Detonator)
- A detonator that is initiated by a safety fuse; also referred
to as an ordinary blasting cap.
- Fuse Cutter
- A mechanical device for cutting safety fuse clean and at right
angles to its long axis.
- Fuse, Delay
- Any fuze incorporating a means of delaying its action. Delay
fuzes are classified according to the length of time of the delay.
- Fuse Lighters Pyrotechnic devices for the rapid and certain
lighting of safety fuse.
- Fusee
- Fusee is an R.R. flare or a special type of match.
- Fuze
- Device with explosive or pyrotechnic components designed to
initiate a train of fire or detonation in a munition.
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