Effect of L/D on penetration performance of tungsten fibre/Zr-based bulk metallic glass matrix composite rod

Abstract

Tungsten fibre/Zr-based bulk metallic glass matrix composite (WF/Zr-MG) is a potential penetrator material. In the present paper, the effect of L/D on the penetration performance of WF/Zr-MG rod is studied. Experiments and finite element method (FEM) simulations of WF/Zr-MG and tungsten heavy alloy (WHA) rods with L/D of 18.33, 5.4, 3.89, 3.75 and 1.11 penetrating into armor steel targets (RHA) are conducted. The experimental results show that penetration efficiency (P/L) of WF/Zr-MG rods with L/D of 18.33, 5.4, 3.89 are higher than that of WHA rods with the same L/D, because the penetration process is long enough to include a steady state penetration self-sharpening. The steady state penetration self-sharpening results in less kinetic energy consumed of rods during penetration. Longitudinal splitting occurs in WF/Zr-MG rods with L/D of 3.75 during the penetration process, which results in a much lower P/L than that of WHA rods with L/D of 3.75. A jacket structure could prevent the longitudinal splitting and increase P/L of WF/Zr-MG rods. P/L of jacketed WF/Zr-MG rods with L/D of 1.11 is slightly lower than that of jacketed WHA rods with L/D of 1.11, because of its short penetration process without the steady state penetration self-sharpening. P/L curve fitted as a function of normalized impact velocity and L/D of the WF/Zr-MG rods into RHA shows the advantages of WF/Zr-MG rods over WHA rods increase with L/D.