Ballistic Efficacy of Carbide Free High Strength Nano-Structured Bainitic Armour Steels

Abstract

Carbide free nano-structured bainitic steels typically have strength more than 2.0 GPa and impact toughness of 7 J or less. Most of this class of steels have sluggish kinetics and takes 16-72 h for complete bainitic transformation. The present work discusses key perspectives in developing carbide free nano-structured bainitic steel having strength more than 2.0 GPa and toughness more than 15 J. Further, ballistic evaluation of newly developed carbide free nano-structured bainitic steels having strength more than 2.0 GPa and high toughness of 20 J was carried out to understand the adaptability of these steels in combat vehicle applications. A comparison is made between newly developed high strength and tough carbide free nano-structured bainitic steels with typical martensite based ARMOX 500 class of armour steels. The developed nano-structured bainite showed ballistic performance much superior to ARMOX 500 steel. Monolithic plates of bainite provide complete protection against 7.62 AP projectiles at an areal density of 120 kgm-2. The ballistic efficiency of monolithic plates was further enhanced by using perforated geometrical configurations.


(a) optical microstructure and (b) transmission electron micrograph of nano-structured bainite.
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doP in backing Al-alloy plate using facing non perforated and perforated (a)-(b) ArMoX and (c)-(d) nano-structured bainite respectively. (a) & (c) non perforated configuration, (b) & (d) perforated configurations.
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