METALLIC COMPOSITE ARMOR FOR LIGHT AND/OR ULTRALIGHT APPLICATIONS

THE SELF PROPAGATING HIGH TEMPERATURE SYNTHESIS (SHS) REACTION PROCESS WILL BE STUDIED AS A MEANS OF SYNTHESIZING NEAR-NET-SHAPE TI6AL-4V AND 6061 AI ALLOY METAL MATRIX COMPOSITES (MMCS) INTO LOW COST FUNCTIONALLY GRADIENT BALLISTIC RESISTANT ALLOYS. A NOVEL MEANS OF INITIATING THE SHS REACTION HAS BEEN DEVELOPED TO SYNTHESIZE ALLOY COMPOSITES WITH LOW OXYGEN CONTAMINATION. THE COMPOSITION OF THE MATERIALS UNDER STUDY WILL BE VARIED BY THE IN SITU FORMATION OF SECOND PHASE PARTICLES (TIB2NBB2TINBBX), GRADIENT IN PERCENTAGE THROUGH THE MATERIAL. ONE SURFACE OF THE COMPOSITE ALLOY WILL BE 90% HIGH HARDNESS PHASE-10% METAL ALLOY; DECREASING CONCENTRATIONS OF HARD PARTICLES DISPERSED IN A ALLOY MATRIX WILL EXTEND TO THE ANTERIOR SURFACE WHICH WILL BE PURE TI-6AL-4V OR 6061 AL ALLOY. COMPOSITION AND MICROSTRUCTURE WILL BE OPTIMIZED FOR THE LIGHT AND ULTRALIGHT HIGH PERFORMANCE ARMOR MISSIONS. SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (SEM) AND X-RAY DIFFRACTION WILL BE USED TO ANALYZE COMPOSITE STRUCTURE, PARTICLE/GRAIN SIZE AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION WITHIN THE OVERALL STRUCTURE OF THE MOST PROMISING FINAL PRODUCTS. AN IN DEPTH LITERATURE SEARCH WILL BE CONDUCTED FOCUSING ON INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS TO UTILIZE SHS SYNTHESIS OF HIGH TEMPERATURE STRUCTURAL MATERIALS. LOW COST NEAR-NET FABRICATION, NOVEL ALLOY DEVELOPMENT, SUPERIOR LIGHTWEIGHT BALLISTIC RESISTANT ALLOY COMPOSITES, DEMONSTRATION OF THE SYNTHESIS OF FUNCTIONALLY GRADIENT COMPOSITES FOR ARMOR APPLICATIONS. COMPENDIUM OF AVAILABLE SHS RELATED LITERATURE.