Tungsten heavy alloy rivals depleted uranium

Abstract

Conventional tungsten-based heavy alloys have a liquid phase sintering temperature of between 1450°C and 1500°C. The performance of these materials when used in penetrators could be improved by giving them the ability to shear adiabatically. A. Bose, J. Lankford and H. Couque of South West Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, USA, and R.M. German of Pennsylvania State University, USA, have developed a new PM WNiMn heavy alloy that can be sintered at 1200–1300°C and which exhibits shear localization under moderate confining pressures. These properties make the new metal a rival to depleted uranium, the material most commonly used in penetrators.