S. Prikhodko
University of California Los Angeles, California, United States
Keywords: titanium alloys, titanium-based composites, armor, laminates, powder metallurgy
The use of titanium in making low-weight armor has been discussed for a few decades as one of the most attractive candidates for replacement of rolled homogeneous steel (RHS), which remains the most commonly used metal for armor. Given the mass efficiency coefficient of titanium compared to the RHS close to 1.5, it can favorably change the logistics of military operation. However, a broader use of titanium is limited by its high cost, especially when traditional cast and wrought technology is in place. There are two ways to overcome this limitation: to make production more economical, and to radically improve protective properties. The first path should challenge the current production of titanium armor. To make the second path effective, titanium armor must have a combination of properties substantially improved over commercially available armor. In the presented study, both limitations were successfully overcome. Laminates of Ti-6Al-4V alloy and its TiC and TiB-reinforced composites have been manufactured using powder metallurgy, at a cost of nearly half of the casting and forging techniques currently in use. The structures were balistacally tested and matched with open data for commercial armor (RHS, titanium, aluminum, magnesium alloys) and showed significant superiority of materials in this study.