The Effect of Thermo-mechanical Processing on the Ballistic Limit Velocity of Extra Low Interstitial Titanium Alloy Ti-6AL- 4V

Although titanium alloys have been widely used for aerospace applications, they have seldom been used in armor systems. In an effort to provide increased information to armored vehicle designers, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the U.S. Department of Energy's Albany Research Center (ARC) performed a joint research program to evaluate the effect of thermo-mechanical processing on the ballistic limit velocity for an extra-low interstitial grade of the titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V. ARC obtained MIL-T-9046J, AB-2 plates from RMI 1 Titanium Company, rolled these plates to final thickness, performed the annealing, and collected mechanical and micro-structural information. ARL then evaluated the plates with 2O-mm fragment- simulating projectiles and l2.7-mm armor-piercing M2 bullets in order to determine the ballistic limit velocity of each plate. Titanium processing and annealing did have an effect on the ballistic limit velocity, but the magnitude of the effect depended on which penetrator was used.