The Development of a Tungsten Heavy Alloy That Fails by an Adiabatic Shear Mechanism. Phase 1

Abstract

Abstract : 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.