Failure Behavior of Tungsten Alloy Shells Normal Penetrating Steel Targets

Normal penetration of tungsten alloy shells into steel targets was performed and the total deformation and fracture history of the shells were successfully obtained. The microstructure of received shells was examined and analyzed, revealing that the formation of adiabatic shear band at critical section is the mainly failure behavior of tungsten alloy shell, and matrix rupture at the tip of internal hollow also results in the damage of the shell. Furthermore, the failure process of critical section is divided into three steps, i. e. the formation of adiabatic shear bands, the appearance of micro-cracks in the bands and the expansion of shear cracks. In additional, the failures of tungsten alloy shells start at geometrical stress concentration zone in the all received shells, so only if the local stress concentration coefficients are markedly decreased by shell geometrical design, the tungsten alloy shells can be able to play an important role in several applications, including military engineering.