Optoelectronic functional materials refer to materials used in optoelectronic technology. They can transmit and process information combined with optoelectronics and are an important part of modern information technology. Optoelectronic functional materials are widely used in the military industry. Mercury cadmium telluride and indium antimonide are important materials for infrared detectors; zinc sulfide, zinc selenide, and gallium arsenide are mainly used to make windows, hoods, and fairings for infrared detection systems of aircraft, missiles, and ground weapons and equipment. Magnesium fluoride has high transmittance, strong resistance to rain erosion and erosion, and is a good infrared transmission material. Laser crystals and laser glass are materials for high-power and high-energy solid lasers. Typical laser materials include ruby crystals, neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnets, semiconductor laser materials, etc.
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2. Hydrogen storage materials
For some transition cluster metals, alloys, and intermetallic compounds, due to their special lattice structure, hydrogen atoms can easily penetrate into the tetrahedral or octahedral interstitial sites of the metal lattice to form metal hydrides. This material is called a hydrogen storage material.
In the weapons industry, lead-acid batteries used in tank vehicles need to be charged frequently due to their low capacity and high self-discharge rate, which makes maintenance and transportation very inconvenient. The discharge output power is easily affected by the battery life, charging state and temperature. In cold climate conditions, the starting speed of tank vehicles will be significantly slowed down, or even unable to start, which will affect the combat capability of the tank. Hydrogen storage alloy batteries have the advantages of high energy density, overcharge resistance, shock resistance, good low temperature performance, and long life. They have broad application prospects in the future development of main battle tank batteries.
3. Damping and shock absorbing materials
Damping refers to the phenomenon that even if a freely vibrating solid is completely isolated from the outside world, its mechanical properties will be converted into thermal energy. The purpose of using high damping functional materials is to reduce vibration and noise. Therefore, damping and shock absorbing materials are of great significance in the military industry.
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The application of foreign metal damping materials is mainly concentrated in industrial sectors such as ships, aviation, and aerospace. The US Navy has used Mn-Cu high damping alloy to manufacture submarine propellers, achieving significant shock absorption effects.
In the West, the application research of damping materials and technologies in weapons has received great attention. Some developed countries have set up research institutions specifically for the application of damping materials in weapons and equipment.
After the 1980s, foreign damping, shock absorption and noise reduction technology has made greater progress. With the help of the application of CAD/CAM in shock absorption and noise reduction technology, they integrated design-materials-processes-tests and carried out damping, shock absorption and noise reduction design of the overall structure. my country conducted research on damping, shock absorption and noise reduction materials around the 1970s and achieved certain results, but there is still a certain gap compared with developed countries. Damping materials are mainly used in the aerospace field to manufacture the outer shells of control panels or gyroscopes such as rockets, missiles, and jets; in the shipbuilding industry, damping materials are used to manufacture propellers, transmission components and cabin partitions, which effectively reduce the vibration and noise generated by surface collisions during the meshing of mechanical parts.
In the weapons industry, the vibration of the tank transmission part (gearbox, transmission box) is a complex vibration with a wide frequency range. The application of high-performance damping zinc-aluminum alloy and vibration-damping wear-resistant surface cladding material technology has greatly reduced the vibration and noise generated by the transmission part of the main battle tank.
4. Stealth materials
The development of modern attack weapons, especially the emergence of precision strike weapons, has greatly threatened the survivability of weapons and equipment. It is no longer practical to simply rely on strengthening the protection capabilities of weapons. The use of stealth technology can make the enemy's detection, guidance, and reconnaissance systems ineffective, so as to conceal oneself as much as possible and seize the initiative on the battlefield. Preemptively discovering and destroying the enemy has become an important development direction for modern weapon protection. The most effective means of stealth technology is to use stealth materials.
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The research on stealth technology and materials abroad began during the Second World War, originated in Germany, developed in the United States, and expanded to advanced countries such as Britain, France, and Russia.
At present, the United States is at the leading level in the research of stealth technology and materials. In the field of aviation, many countries have successfully applied stealth technology to the stealth of aircraft; in terms of conventional weapons, the United States has also carried out a lot of work on the stealth of tanks and missiles, and has been used in equipment one after another. For example, the US M1A1 tank uses radar wave and infrared wave stealth materials, and the former Soviet Union T-80 tank is also coated with stealth materials.
Stealth materials include millimeter wave structural absorbing materials, millimeter wave rubber absorbing materials and multifunctional absorbing coatings, which can not only reduce the probability of detection, tracking and hitting of millimeter wave radar and millimeter wave guidance systems, but also be compatible with the effects of visible light, near-infrared camouflage and medium- and far-infrared thermal camouflage.
In recent years, while improving and improving traditional stealth materials, foreign countries are committed to exploring a variety of new materials. Whisker materials, nanomaterials, ceramic materials, chiral materials, conductive polymer materials, etc. are gradually applied to radar wave and infrared stealth materials, making the coating thinner and lighter. Nanomaterials have excellent wave absorption characteristics, wide bandwidth, good compatibility, and thin thickness. Developed countries have studied and developed nanomaterials as a new generation of stealth materials; domestic research on millimeter wave stealth materials started in the mid-1980s, and research units mainly focused on weapon systems. After years of hard work, pre-research work has made great progress. This technology can be used for camouflage and stealth of various ground weapon systems, such as main battle tanks, 155mm advanced howitzer systems and amphibious tanks.
At present, the fourth generation of supersonic fighter jets being developed in the world use composite materials, wing-body fusion and radar-absorbing coatings in their fuselage structure, which make them truly stealthy. Electromagnetic wave absorbing coatings and electromagnetic shielding coatings have begun to be applied on stealth aircraft. The surface-to-air missiles of the United States and Russia are using stealth materials with light weight, wide-band absorption and good thermal stability. It can be foreseen that the research and application of stealth technology has become one of the most important topics in national defense technology in countries around the world.
