Patent ID: 6071444
Filing Date: 2000-06-06
Classification: B26F,C06B

Abstract:
A method of producing a perforation pattern in a slab of thermoplastic propellant material comprising steps of:(a) providing a dimensioned slab of thermoplastic propellant material to be perforated;(b) providing a perforating press having a base for receiving and carrying a slab of material to be perforated, said press having a patterned array of perforating members fixed therein and arranged according to a first perforation pattern, said first perforation pattern having a first perforation density and means for advancing and incrementally indexing said slab through the press;(c) heating and temperature conditioning said slab to a desired processing plasticity prior to perforation;(d) transferring said heated slab to said press;(e) perforating said slab to create a desired second perforation pattern in said slab by subjecting said slab to a series of perforation actions by said patterned array of perforating members arranged according to said first perforation pattern coordinated with the indexing of said slab through said press;(f) wherein said first perforating pattern of perforating means has a pattern density less than the density of said second perforation pattern and wherein the creation of the perforation pattern requires a plurality of sequential perforation steps; and(g) trimming and shaping said slab to the desired dimension segments for loading into a round.