Development of a tungsten heavy alloy that fails by an adiabatic shear mechanism. Phase 1. Final report, 1 January-30 September 1992

Technical Report · Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI ID:6255561

Guha, S; Kyriacou, C; Withers, J C; Loutfy, R O

Kinetic Energy penetrators made from Depleted Uranium (DU) alloys have consistently performed better than equi-density and geometrically similar penetrators made from conventional tungsten heavy alloys (WHA) during ballistic penetration tests into semi-infinite Rolled Homogeneous Armor (RHA) steel targets. The superior penetration behavior of DU penetrators is presently attributed to these penetrators maintaining a chisel nose by failure along adiabatic shear bands which is in contrast to the mushroom head observed in WHA penetrators; the mushroom head decreases the energy density at the target thereby leading to reduced penetration. The radiological hazard of DU combined with chemical corrosion during storage provides an impetus to improving the state-of-the-art in WHA with respect to ballistic penetration behavior. Interestingly, WHA penetrators with DU matrix (instead of the conventional Ni-Fe, Ni-Co, or Ni-Fe-Co matrices) also fail by adiabatic shear indicating that shear localization is probably influenced greatly by matrix material properties. Hence, an investigation into alternative matrix materials for WHA that will support shear localization is warranted.

• Research Organization: Materials and Electrochemical Research Corp., Tucson, AZ (United States)
• OSTI ID: 6255561
• Report Number(s): AD-A-265867/2/XAB; CNN: DAAL04-92-C-0009
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
PENETRATORS
IMPACT TESTS
TUNGSTEN ALLOYS
FAILURES
SHEAR
ADIABATIC PROCESSES
ARMOR
DEFORMATION
DEPLETED URANIUM
PROJECTILES
ACTINIDES
ALLOYS
ELEMENTS
MATERIALS TESTING
MECHANICAL TESTS
METALS
TESTING
URANIUM
360103* - Metals & Alloys- Mechanical Properties
450000 - Military Technology
Weaponry
& National Defense