DEVELOPMENT OF TUNGSTEN BASED COMPOSITES

IT IS PROPOSED TO DEVELOP AND EMPLOY TWO ADVANCED TECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS IN THE CONTINUING R&D PROBLEM TO DEVELOP IMPROVED TUNGSTEN BASED COMPOSITE MATERIALS TO BE USED IN KINETIC ENERGY PENETRATORS: (1) THE HOT ISOSTATIC PRESSING (HIP) PROCESS WILL BE EMPLOYED TO FABRICATE THE MOST PROMISING TUNGSTEN-CERAMIC (CERMET) MATERIAL COMBINATIONS. (2) IN ORDER TO OBTAIN DYNAMIC MATERIAL PROPERTIES AND ULTIMATE STRENGTHS, IT IS PROPOSED TO DEVELOP THE ELECTROMAGNETIC HOPKINGSON BAR (EHB) FACILITY, WHICH WILL HAVE THE CAPACITY TO TEST TUNGSTEN BASED SPECIMENTS TO STRESSES OF THE ORDER OF 800,000 PSI. THIS UNIQUE LABORATORY DEVICE WILL BE DEVELOPED BY MODIFYING THE EXISTING 200,000 SHOCK TEST FACILITY THROUGH ADDITION OF A SEGMENTED HOPKINSON BAR. THE MATERIALS SELECTED FOR TEST IN PHASE I INCLUDE W-ALN, W-ALN + EXTERIOR, W-CU, W-TIB(2), AND W-SIC WHISKERS. THESE MATERIALS WILL BE FABRICATED USING THE HIP PROCESS, AND THEIR DYNAMIC PROPERTIES WILL BE EVALUATED WITH THE EHB FACILITY. RECOMMENDATIONS WILL BE MADE ON THE DIRECTION OF MATERIALS R&D TO BE PURSUED IN PHASE II.