Investigation of 77W-20Re-3Ni Sinter Designed for Cores of Armour-Piercing Projectiles

Abstract

The results of investigation of production process and properties of W-Re-Ni sinters intended for cores of anti-tank missiles were presented in the paper. The tested material contained 77% of tungsten, 20% of rhenium and 3% of nickel. The test specimens were made by powder metallurgy. The production process consisted of powder mixture pressing by CIP method and two-stage sintering: initial – in an atmosphere of dissociated ammonia and final – in vacuum. The diagram of the production process of this sinter and exemplary picture of its microstructure were shown in the paper. The results of the analysis of the chemical composition of selected microregions examined materials, and selected mechanical properties such as compressive strength and hardness were presented in the next part of the paper. The cores of the projectiles, which were made from the examined materials, were put in a steel sabot. The results of experiments connected with investigation of the penetration properties in the field of using this sinter as the cores of anti-tank shells were shown. The penetration coefficient was determined, and moreover cross-sectional images of the cores after shooting were presented. Based on the photographs taken using a scanning electron microscope the microstructure of selected samples was described. It was settled that the cores selfsharpening phenomenon was appeared during penetration.

Keywords

• materials engineering
• powder metallurgy
• tungsten
• rhenium
• heavy alloys