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

Bidyapati Mishra; G Sukumar; P P Senthil; P R S Reddy; B B Singh; B Ramakrishna; K Siva Kumar; V Madhu

doi:10.14429/dsj.73.18634

Bidyapati Mishra DRDO-Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad - 500 058, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4542-5673
G Sukumar DRDO-Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad - 500 058, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0657-1723
P P Senthil DRDO-Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad - 500 058, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7541-0982
P R S Reddy DRDO-Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad - 500 058, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9386-9180
B B Singh DRDO-Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad - 500 058, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7847-7568
B Ramakrishna DRDO-Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad - 500 058, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4629-8522
K Siva Kumar DRDO-Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad - 500 058, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1858-8469
V Madhu DRDO-Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad - 500 058, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9685-5366

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14429/dsj.73.18634

Keywords: Ballistic, Nanobainite, Strength, Toughness

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.