A Comparison of the Deformation, Flow, and Failure of Two Tungsten Heavy Alloys in Ballistic Impacts

Ballistic tests were conducted with subscale long rod penetrators of two different processing conditions of the same tungsten heavy alloy. The liquid-phase sintered composite of 90% tungsten-9% nickel-01% cobalt (by weight) was tested in its low-strength, as -sintered and heat-treated condition, and in a high-strength, 50% cold-worked (by swaging) and aged condition. Consistent differences in the ballistic performance of the two lots of penetrators were observed, in depth of penetrations test in thick armor steel targets and in limit velocity determinations against finite thickness steel targets. Metallographic examinations were conducted on the residual penetrators recovered from sectioned steel targets. Using the tungsten particles in the nickel alloy matrices of these residual penetrator materials as embedded strain gauges, the strain distributions, deformation gradients, and flow and failure behaviors of these two tungsten heavy alloy lots are examined. Presented at the Proceedings of the International Conference on Refractory and Hard Metals, held in the United Kingdom on 28-30 Oct 2002. Pub. in the Proceedings of the International Conference on Refractory and Hard Metals, 2002.