Kinetic energy penetrators must possess the best possible combination of hardness, stiffness, strength, and fracture toughness characteristics to be effective against modern armor systems. Over the last decade, depleted uranium (DU) and tungsten alloys have been the materials of choice for kinetic energy penetrators. DU and tungsten perform about the same against semi-infinite targets, and DU outperforms tungsten penetrators in oblique, spaced array targets, but because of environmental and subsequent cost concerns, effort has focused on improving the performance of tungsten penetrators over the last few years. However, despite recent improvements in material properties, the penetration performance of tungsten still lays behind that of DU. One possible reason is the difference in deformation mechanisms at the leading edge of the penetrator during the penetration process - DU alloys tend to shear band and sharpen as they penetrate the target material, whereas tungsten penetrators tend to mushroom and blunt. As a first step to determine whether shear banding is truly the reason for superior DU performance, a review and summary of the available information was performed. This paper presents a review of the fabrication, high strain-rate properties, and penetration phenomena of penetrators manufactured from both tungsten and DU alloys. Specifically, the effects of composition, processing, and heat treatment on material properties and penetration mechanisms of these alloys are discussed.
A review of penetration mechanisms and dynamic properties of tungsten and depleted uranium penetrators
Übersicht der Eindringmechanismen und der dynamischen Eigenschaften von Geschoßköpfen aus Wolfram und abgereichertem Uran
1991
9 Seiten, 57 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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