Preparation and penetration behavior of the reactive fine-grained tungsten heavy alloy

A new reactive fine-grained tungsten heavy alloy (RF-WHA) with self-sharpening ability was developed, which is a high-density and -strength material for armor-piercing projectiles with excellent penetration performance and reactive energy-releasing properties. This paper introduces the preparation method, microstructure and mechanical properties of the RF-WHA. Comparative experiments were conducted between RF-WHA and the conventional tungsten heavy alloy (WHA) long rod penetrating semi-infinite medium-carbon steel target at impact velocities ranging from 1000 m/s to 1700 m/s using a 25 mm ballistic gun. The depth of penetration (DOP), crater channels and residual rods of the RF-WHA and WHA at different velocities were obtained. The experiment results show that the RF-WHA rod has reactive energy-releasing properties, and the DOP of the RF-WHA rod is 10%-15% higher than that of the WHA rod. The RF-WHA rod has an excellent self-sharpening behavior during penetrating. The failure mode of the RF-WHA rod was described by systematically analyzing the macroscopic morphological and microscopic metallurgical of crater channels and residual rods. It is noted that the selfsharpening behavior is related to the adiabatic shear sensitivity and brittle behavior of the RF-WHA under high and medium strain rate loading.