[SauronOfMordor]

The way shaped-charge weapons work is by the blast creating a directed jet of molten metal traveling at high speed

Today I was reading about a nifty little substance called aerogel.

Incredibly light (a cubic yard weighs 5 pounds), huge strength/weight ratio, extremely good thermal insulator.

I wonder what a thick layer of aerogel impregnated with tungsten carbide powder would do to a directed jet of hot metal?

[RightWhale]

Strength/weight means little when weight is near zero. Aerogel has little strength, can barely hold itself together.

[XEHRpa]

> The way shaped-charge weapons work is by the blast creating a directed jet of molten metal traveling at high speed.

WARNING, WARNING! This erroneous explanation of shaped charge phenomenology still persists after 60 years of discrediting. But at least you didn't say it "burns" its way through the target, which is equally erroneous.

The jet is not molten, for typical metals used, but stays solid. It nonetheless stretches like taffy under the huge strain rates.

Also, it is not the "blast" that is the lethal mechanism (I mean, the blast can be a lethal mechanism, but that part has nothing to do with how a shaped charge works). The stretching jet penetrates the target material at high velocity, much in the way that a hose of high velocity water can erode through a pile of solid dirt. In the case of a shaped charge though, it is metal on metal/whatever.

You are correct in stating that the lethal mechanism is "directed." Because the shape of the warhead and associated lined cavity within it causes the explosive force to take an arcuate shaped liner and compress and direct it at high velocity along a lethal axis. It is this metal liner within the warhead which becomes the lethal mechanism, not the explosive blast per se.