DEVELOPMENT OF STEEL AS ANTI-BALLISTIC COMBAT VEHICLE MATERIAL: REVIEW

Abstract

The use of steel (armor) in military vehicle designs is increasingly dominating and is predicted to continue to increase in the future as research and material engineering are carried out. This is a necessity considering that armored military vehicles must be required to have high anti-ballistic capabilities, but on the other hand, of course, still have agility in maneuvering on the operating field. Optimal ballistic performance is closely related to material strength, material constituent content, material hardness and high strain rate behavior of materials used in military vehicles. Currently, the most widely used armor materials are RHA (Rolled Homogeneous Armor) and High Hardness Steel (HB 550). RHA itself is often used for armored vehicles because of its ability to absorb and deflect kinetic energy from ammunition / ballistics. This right is because RHA is a homogeneous plate that has the same hardness and structure throughout because it involves a new process called rolling. Meanwhile, HB 550 is known to have a fine grain microstructure, high level of hardness and toughness obtained from the alloying process of two types of steel, namely high strength low alloy steel (HSLA) and wootz steel and followed by quenching technology. From the results of studies and literature reviews, it is known that in RHA steel, ballistic resistance is closely related to the adiabatic shear band transformation due to softening and thermal strain associated with the collision moment that occurs. While on the HB 550, it is recommended that the minimum thickness value of the plate to produce an optimal level of ballistic protection is 14.5 mm for the FB7 and 13 mm for the 7.62 mm AP bullet.