An analysis of the wounding factors of four different shapes of fragments.

The wounding characteristics to a biological target of four typical shapes of fragments (square, triangular, cylindrical, and spherical) with masses of less than 1 gram and velocities between 460 and 1,500 m/s are studied in this paper. The following conclusions about the effects of the wounding factors, such as energy transfer, velocity, mass, and shape of fragment are presented: 1) For given target characteristics, the important wounding factors of fragments are impact velocity, mass, and shape, and of these velocity is the most important. 2) Besides direct effects, the fragment velocity has great influence on far-reaching, indirect wounding effects. When velocity increases, it not only increases the size of direct wound, but also the rate of indirect bone fracture. 3) The rate of energy transfer is affected by fragment shape, and it is also a decreasing function of mass. 4) Under the same conditions there are differences in wounding effectiveness among the four fragment shapes, the triangular with a comparatively high wounding effectiveness, followed by the square, cylindrical, and spherical. The types of wound channels are also different, the cylindrical and spherical making a "through" type, the square and triangular making a "blind-tube" type.