Fragmentation (weaponry)

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Fragmentation (weaponry)

Fragmentation is the process by which the casing of an artillery

Artillery

Artillery is a military Combat Arms which employs any apparatus, machine, an assortment of tools or instruments, a system or systems used as weapons for the discharge of large projectiles in combat as a major contribution of fire power within the overall military capability of an armed force....
shell

Shell (projectile)

A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to Round shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage includes large solid projectiles previously termed shot ....
, bomb

Bomb

A bomb is any of a range of explosive devices that typically rely on the exothermic chemical reaction of an explosive material to produce an extremely sudden and violent release of energy....
, grenade, etc is shattered by the detonating high explosive filling. The correct technical terminology

Technical terminology

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Encyclopedia

Fragmentation is the process by which the casing of an artillery

Artillery

Shell (projectile)

Bomb

Technical terminology

Technical terminology is the specialized vocabulary of a field, the nomenclature. These terms have specific definitions within the field, which is not necessarily the same as their meaning in common use....
for these casing pieces is fragments, shortened to frags, although shards or splinters can be used for non-preformed fragments. The fragments, as mentioned previously, can also be preformed and of various shapes (spheres, cubes, etc) and sizes. Preformed fragments are normally held rigidly within some form of matrix, or body until the HE filling is detonated. The resulting high velocity fragments produced by either method are the main lethality mechanisms of these weapons. The word shrapnel
Shrapnel

Shrapnel shells were anti-personnel artillery munitions which carried a large number of individual bullets to the target and then ejected them forwards, relying almost entirely on the shell's velocity for their lethality....
is often used to describe these fragments, the word shrapnel originally referred to a specific type of shell, the shrapnel shell, which doesn't rely on a high explosive to shatter the casing. A World War I

World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
era shrapnel shell uses a small (black) powder charge in the base of the shell to expel the lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group Chemical element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metal ....
or iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a Group 8 element and period 4 element. Iron is lustrous and silvery in color....
shot at a relatively low velocity, 200 m/s (700 ft/s). The expulsion, at a predetermined time and height above the target area, is controlled by a time fuse

Fuse (explosives)

In an explosive, pyrotechnic device or military munition, a fuse is the part of the device that initiates function. In common usage, the word fuse is used indiscriminately....
. Due the low velocity of the shot, unlike the fragments produced by a detonating HE munition, it is only really effective against human targets, not material or armor.