I'm curious about the slenderness of comtemporary artillery guns. How can they build barrel wall so thin?

Question

contemporary

Answer 1

We got used to looking at artillery pieces from the Civil War era, when they were made of cast iron.  Now they are made of high-strength steel alloys that can absorb a lot more impact.  There are also auxiliary cooling systems, and some of the gun tubes have limited life expectancies, and have to be replaced after so many rounds.  That always sounded awkward to me, but it's the price you pay for the artillery piece being lighter and easier to move.

Answer 2

High strength steels, limited life gun tubes, and controlled

burning propellants.

Answer 3

Some of the guns use liquid cooling to reduce the size. Special methods of barrel design including coatings increase the life and allow the barrel to be thinner. Some gun propellants include materials that coat the inside of the barrel to help protect it against high energy rounds (creating a mess that must be periodically cleaned). These barrels do have limited wear life - so you can only shoot so many times before it is worn out.