English

DTIC ADA612339: Effects of Dynamic Impact Loading on Microstructure of FCC (TWIP) Steel

Armoured vehicles are primarily designed to provide protection against blast and ballistic events, however there is pressure to reduce the weight of vehicles in order to achieve improvements in range and maneouvrability combined with reductions in operating cost. To obtain improved performance without compromising blast and ballistic properties, a range of tougher, lighter and harder materials have been investigated. This work looks at the possible use of ultra-fine grain (UFG) materials to achieve the desired properties. From a fundamental viewpoint, as indicated by the Hall-Petch equation, UFG is an ideal means for hardening and strengthening a metal without changing its chemical composition and without compromising ductility. The work described here is a microstructural investigation of TWIP steel that has been subjected to blast loading. It is found that the pre-blast technique reduced the grain size of the TWIP steel significantly and that the dominant deformation mechanism of the grain refined material was dislocation slips. The reduction in grain size resulted in a considerable increase in material hardness.

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