2012年3月26日星期一

Tungsten alloy &Kinetic Energy Penetrator

   Yesterday, I watched a video about what is a kinetic energy penetrator. 
    A Kinetic Energy Penetrator is a projectile weapon that does not explode, but rather damages its target by slamming into it at high speeds. (Through kinetic energy alone.) The primary modern usage of a   Kinetic Energy Penetrator is to penetrate tank armor. In the military, the term armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) is used for the most common form of KE penetrator. The APFSDS is essentially a superfast (1.4 - 1.9 km/sec) arrow with a tip made of depleted uranium alloy. Besides slamming into a target at tremendous speeds, depleted uranium ignites from the energy of the impact and subsequent contact with air, making this KE penetrator a very effective weapon for taking out tanks.
      Other kinetic energy penetrators have been researched and developed by the military. The Special Purpose Individual Weapon program was a KE penetrator project pursued by US Army researchers and engineers for a couple decades. The goal of this program was to create a workable flechette-based rifle for soldiers to use in the field. There are several military motivations for developing small arms KE penetrators. First, small darts at high velocity (flechettes) have higher penetrating power than traditional bullets. Second, they have less recoil than bullets, allow for better accuracy in automatic fire. Finally, flechettes weigh less, allowing an infantryman to carry more rounds. Unfortunately, though many billions was spent on the project, a handheld KE penetrator never performed well enough to see the light of day. Ammunition jamming was a frequent issue, as well as overheating.
       Then I looked up the Internet and some related books. I realized that the material- tungsten alloy is widely used into making kinetic energy penetrator. If you are interested in tungsten alloy and want to know more details, please go to http://www.tungsten-alloy.com 


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