Study on the mechanical behavior and penetration performance of composite tungsten alloy penetrator

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The local microstructure of the residual penetrator tipwas obtained, and the penetration mechanism of the penetrator was deeply analyzed. The results show that the deformation and failure of composite tungsten alloy penetrator exhibit localized characteristics, and the composite structure of the penetrator can reduce the number of cracks and avoid the phenomenon of large cracks cutting off the penetrator. It can better ensure the integrity of the penetrator tip and the durability of penetration power, and has an increasing trend of " tip-form self-sharpening" ability, which has better penetration performance than homogeneous tungsten penetrator. It can provide theoretical reference for further structural optimization and performance improvement of armor-piercing projectile. Composite tungsten alloy penetrator Mechanical behavior Penetration performance Microscopic analysis Numerical simulation Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 14 Figure 15 Figure 16 Figure 17 Figure 18 1. Introduction With the continuous development of modern armor technology, the requirements for the comprehensive performance of armor-piercing projectile are becoming increasingly high. In recent years, tungsten heavy alloys (WHAs) with high density and good mechanical properties have become the mainstream core material for kinetic energy penetrator. However, due to their high plasticity, the tip of penetrator is first passivated into a "mushroom-like head" during penetration, resulting in increased resistance and reduced penetration depth [1-3]. Therefore, in order to enhance the "self-sharpening effect" and armor-piercing power of tungsten alloy penetrator, it is imperative to explore a new type of tungsten alloy penetrator structure. Most scholars have improved the penetration depth performance of penetrator by selecting new materials or modifying structures. Penetrator material is one of the main breakthroughs point for improving the armor-piercing ability of armor-piercing projectile. At present, the applications of new armor-piercing materials mainly involve WF/Zr-MG, fine-grained tungsten alloys, and WHAs, which primarily aim to improve the self-sharpening capability of the material to enhance penetration depth. Conner [4,5] believes that the self-sharpening behavior of the composite WF/Zr-MG rod is caused by the failure of local adiabatic shear bands. Chen[6,7] found that the self-sharpening effect is mainly reflected in the "cavitation effect", where WF/Zr-MG composite materials have crater diameters that are more than 10% smaller than tungsten. Rong [8,9] indicates that it is mainly caused by matrix damage and fiber fracture in the thin and narrow "edge layer" region. Although scholars have different interpretations, studies have shown that WF/Zr-MG rods exhibit a significant "self-sharpening phenomenon" during penetration [10-12]. Fan et al. [13] and Chen et al. [14] introduced fine-grained tungsten alloy rods (such as fine-grained 95W-3.75Ni-1.25Fe) to conduct ballistic impact tests, and found that reducing the tungsten grain size to achieve self-sharpening can improve the adiabatic shear sensitivity of the rods. However, issues such as poor ductility and strict preparation processes still limit the practical application of these new composite materials. Therefore, from the perspective of practical engineering applications, WHAs that possess both good self-sharpening capabilities and ductility are still the preferred materials for kinetic energy armor-piercing projectiles. The density and strength of WHAs are relatively high, which in some cases may limit the enhancement of penetration performance. Therefore, some scholars have started with structural optimization and improved the overall penetration capability of the penetrator through various methods, such as adding a jacket and segmentation. The jacket rod consists of a central high-density core and a low-density jacket. Kui Tang et al. [15] and Pedersen et al. [16] found that the penetration performance of the bullet rods with added jackets was significantly better than that of homogeneous bullet rods. And the proportion, thickness, and material of the jacket have a significant impact on penetration performance[15-18]. To improve the deformation and fragmentation of the penetrator, Kucher [19] proposed using segmented penetrator to optimize penetration capability. Magier [20] found that the rear segment penetrator can impact the front segment penetrator to give it some additional kinetic energy, thereby increasing the overall penetration depth. Orphal [21] indicates a segmented rod will penetrate a semi-infinite metal target deeper than a continuous rod of the same material and having equal mass, diameter and velocity. The penetration performance of segmented armor-piercing bullets is also affected by factors such as segmentation ratio, segmentation spacing, and crater diameter [22-25]. However, in practical applications, these improvement schemes also come with defects such as large projectile length, difficulty with connection, launching, or deployment. In summary, previous studies have shown that considering materials or structures from a single dimension may lead to issues such as material overloading or structural instability. Therefore, this paper comprehensively considers both material and structure, draws on the concept of layered structure, and fully utilizes the strength, hardness, and dynamic failure characteristics of different materials to design a composite structure tungsten alloy penetrator. By using numerical simulation and ballistic gun tests, the mechanical behavior and penetration performance differences between composite tungsten alloy penetrator and homogeneous tungsten penetrator are explored, and the penetration process and maximum penetration depth of the penetrator are obtained. By using scanning electron microscopy to obtain the local microstructure of the residual penetrator tip, the penetration mechanism of the penetrator is analyzed in depth, providing reference for the design and manufacture of new penetrator structures with easy "self-sharpening" of the tip. 2. Mechanical property tests 2.1 Design of composite penetrator The schematic structures of composite tungsten alloy penetrator and homogeneous tungsten penetrator (hereinafter referred to as "composite penetrator" and "homogeneous penetrator", represented by the letters "C" and "H" respectively) are shown in Fig. 1. From Fig.1(a), it can be seen that the composite penetrator consists of two layers, namely the outer wrapping material (91W-Ni-Fe) and the inner core material (pure tungsten). Because studies in references [26-28]have shown that the W-Ni-Fe system is commonly used as a material for armor-piercing projectile due to its high strength and toughness. The overall diameter of the composite penetrator is 10 mm and the length is 100 mm. The thickness ratio of inner and outer materials is the key factor affecting the penetration ability of composite penetrator. Pedersen et al. [16] conducted a study on the penetration performance of steel jacketed tungsten alloy long rods into steel targets, and found that the optimal penetration performance is achieved when the ratio of jacket radius to core material radius is 0.6. Therefore, based on the relevant research results and data on the improvement of the penetration performance of the penetrator after adding a jacket, this paper preliminarily designs a composite penetrator with an inner and outer material thickness ratio of 6:4 (i.e. a ratio of 0.6 between the inner and outer material radii). From Fig.1(b), the homogeneous penetrator material is pure tungsten, with a diameter of 10 mm and a length of 100 mm. 2.2 Experimental apparatus As shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, quasi-static compression tests and dynamic tensile tests were conducted on the composite penetrator structure using an electronic universal testing machine (CSS-44200 model) and a Hopkinson pressure bar, respectively. The maximum load of electronic universal testing machine is 200 KN, the loading rate is 0.6 mm/min, and the strain rate is 1×10 -3 s -1 . The shape of the test specimen is cylindrical, with dimensions of ∅6 mm×10 mm. The diameter of the Hopkinson pressure bar is 14.5 mm, the material of the bar is spring steel, the incident bar is 1500 mm, the transmission bar is 1500 mm, the elastic modulus is 206 GPa, the density is 7800 kg⁄m 3 , and the strain rate is in the range of 1000-4500 s -1 . The specimen remains cylindrical, with dimensions changed to ∅6 mm×3 mm. 2.3 Mechanical test results and analysis Fig. 4 shows the quasi-static compression test results of homogeneous tungsten and composite tungsten alloys, including stress-strain curves and the degree of deformation of the specimens before and after the test. It can be seen that there was no crushing phenomenon observed in the two specimens, and the specimens rebounded and recovered well. After the linear elastic deformation stage, there is no obvious yield point for the two specimens. Referring to reference [29], the intersection point of the fitting curves of the elastic stage and the initial plastic flow stage (real strain between 0.05 and 0.15) is used as the yield point to obtain the compressive yield strengths of homogeneous tungsten and composite tungsten alloys, which are 1165 MPa and 1096 MPa, respectively. The main purpose of studying the dynamic behavior of materials at high strain rates is to determine the variation of mechanical properties (strength, plasticity) with strain rate [30]. To obtain the changes in dynamic compression mechanical properties of homogeneous tungsten and composite tungsten alloys, multiple unidirectional dynamic compression tests were conducted by adjusting the loading pressure (0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, 0.3, 0.35, 0.4, 0.45, 0.5). The dynamic compression stress-strain curves of homogeneous tungsten and composite tungsten alloy specimens under different strain rates are shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6. Consistent with the yield strength obtained from static compression tests, the dynamic yield strength results are shown in Fig. 7. It can be seen that compared to low strain rates, the dynamic compressive yield strength of both materials is significantly improved at high strain rates, and increases with the increase of strain rate, indicating that both materials have strain rate strengthening effects. Within the strain rate range of 500-5000 s -1 , the yield strength of homogeneous tungsten varies from 1340-2145 MPa, while that of composite tungsten alloy ranges from 1621-2042 MPa, indicating that composite tungsten alloy has better strain rate strengthening effect than homogeneous tungsten. At loading pressures of 0.1-0.5, the maximum yield strengths of homogeneous tungsten and composite tungsten alloys are 2145 MPa and 2042 MPa, respectively. In summary, the results of the passive and static compression tests show that the yield strength of composite tungsten alloy does not significantly decrease compared to homogeneous tungsten, and it can still retain good material mechanical properties. 2.4 Determination of Johnson-Cook constitutive model parameters Referring to references [31-34], through a series of formula simplifications and experimental data fitting, the A, B, n, and C parameters of homogeneous tungsten and composite tungsten alloys were obtained as shown in Table 1, laying the foundation for further research on composite penetrator penetration simulation. Table 1 Fitting constitutive parameters for two types of penetrator structures Material Composite tungsten alloy Homogeneous tungsten ρ /(g/cm 3 ) 17.3 18.75 A /(MPa) 1096 1165 B /(MPa) 846 1050 n 0.235 0.194 c 0.049 0.043 m 1 1 G 0 /(GPa) 70 65 E /(GPa) 147 160 µ 0.14 0.13 T m /K 1850 1490 c v /(J/Kg·k) 134 134 D 1 2.0 2.0 D 2 3.0 3.7 D 3 -2.2 -3.2 D 4 0.019 0.024 D 5 0.41 0.47 3. LS-DYNA simulations 3.1 Modeling Simulate and calculate the design of homogeneous tungsten penetrator and composite tungsten alloy penetrator, with a penetrator length of 100 mm, a diameter of 10 mm, and a length to diameter ratio of 10. Adopting 603 armored steel target plate, with a length of 150 mm and a diameter of 40 mm. The thickness ratio of the inner and outer materials in the design of the composite tungsten alloy penetrator is 6:4, and the penetration performance of the composite tungsten alloy penetrator is studied at a striking velocity of 1400 m/s. Using LS-DYNA software to establish a simulation calculation model, in order to reduce calculation time, a 1/4 model was adopted and symmetric constraints were applied on the symmetry plane. Solid164 three-dimensional solid elements were used for the calculation mesh, with a mesh size of 0.15 mm×0.15mm for the penetrator, 0.15 mm×0.15mm for the target plate in the impact area of the penetrator, and transition meshes size of 0.30 mm×0.30 mm for the target plate other parts [37]. The internal and external components of the composite penetrator use grid common nodes. The boundary treatment of the simulation model is a non-reflective boundary condition, the erosion contact is surface to surface, and the state equation is Gruneisen. The entire process of penetrator-target interaction is carried out using Lagrange algorithm. The Johnson-Cook constitutive model was also used for the target plate material, and the main parameters of material model are shown in Table 2. The specific models and grid division of the penetrator and target plate are shown in Fig. 8. Table 2 Main parameters of material model [35,36] Material 603steel Material 603steel ρ /(g/cm 3 ) 7.8 µ 0.33 A /(MPa) 1120 T m /K 1793 B /(MPa) 500 c v /(J/Kg·k) 477 n 0.26 D 1 2.0 c 0.014 D 2 3.4 m 1.03 D 3 -2.5 G 0 /(GPa) 75 D 4 0.026 E /(GPa) 206 D 5 0.61 3.2 Numerical simulation results and analysis Fig. 9 shows the variation process of homogeneous penetrator and composite penetrator penetration into 603 steel target plate. It can be seen that due to the high-speed movement of the penetrator, the interaction between the penetrator and the target plate causes elastic-plastic deformation of the target plate material, resulting in a continuously deepening crater. The two types of penetrators fracture and flow in reverse along the crater. And the penetration depth of both types of penetrators continues to deepen over time. Among them, when t 60 µs, the difference in penetration depth between the two types of penetrators gradually increases, and the penetration depth of the composite penetrator is always greater than that of the homogeneous penetrator (yellow lines are used in Fig. 9 to represent the penetration depth of the penetrator at the corresponding time, in order to visually display the difference in penetration depth between the two types of penetrators). Fig. 10 shows the penetration depth changes of homogeneous and composite penetrators. Analysis shows that with the passage of penetration time, the penetration depth of both types of penetrators increases linearly in the early stage and tends to plateau in the later stage. The maximum penetration depths of homogeneous and composite penetrators are 85 mm and 89 mm, respectively. Compared to a homogeneous penetrator, the maximum penetration depth of a composite penetrator is increased by 4.71%. Meanwhile, it can be seen from the vertex line of the bar chart in Fig. 14 that the penetration depth of the composite penetrator is always greater than that of the homogeneous penetrator, and compared with the homogeneous penetrator, the time for the composite penetrator to reach the maximum penetration depth is delayed by about 20 µs, indicating that the composite penetrator has better penetration power persistence. Fig. 11 shows the variation patterns of different parameters during the penetration process of different penetrators, such as velocity, kinetic energy, and acceleration. It can be seen that the velocity and kinetic energy of the composite penetrator are always greater than those of the homogeneous penetrator. And the velocity and kinetic energy of both types of penetrators decrease linearly with time, until the kinetic energy of the penetrator decays to zero and the penetration stops at t =150 µs. On the contrary, at this time, the velocity curve of the penetrator shows a slight acceleration phenomenon, which is due to the inertia effect causing the penetrator to rebound slightly and increase in velocity. However, this phenomenon has no effect on the final penetration depth of the penetrator. By analyzing the variation law of acceleration during the penetration process of the penetrator in Fig. 11, it can be concluded that in the early stage of penetration, the acceleration of the penetrator increases linearly, and the acceleration of the composite penetrator is always greater than that of the homogeneous penetrator; After reaching the maximum acceleration range ( t =50-60 µs), the acceleration continuously decays until it approaches zero. Among them, based on the change image of the penetrator at t =60 µs, it can be seen that the design of composite tungsten alloy to some extent avoids the formation of the "mushroom-like head" of the penetrator and improves the self-sharpening ability of the composite penetrator. Therefore, by combining the variation laws of parameters such as the velocity, kinetic energy, and acceleration of the penetrator, and further analyzing the reasons why the composite penetrator has a greater penetration depth, it can be concluded that the composite penetrator exhibits different impact responses and dynamic behaviors during penetration of the target plate due to the different densities, hardness, and yield strengths of the inner and outer layers of materials. When subjected to the same resistance of the target plate, the outer layer of tungsten alloy material plays a dominant role in erosion and falls off after penetration and wear, while the inner layer of pure tungsten maintains its original strength and stiffness and continues to penetrate. The effective synergy of the properties of the inner and outer layers ensures that the composite penetrator always has sufficient penetration power to continue penetrating the target plate, thereby increasing the penetration depth. 4. Ballistic gun tests 4.1 Experimental details Using the experimental apparatus shown in Fig. 12, ballistic gun tests were conducted at the Tangshan Research and Testing Center of Nanjing University of Science and Technology. Using a 37mm caliber ballistic gun for shooting, the experimental conditions are shown in Table 3, and each condition is repeated twice. The semi-infinite thickness homogeneous steel target is fixed on the target frame, and the actual landing position of the penetrator is adjusted by adjusting the position of the target plate. Multiple experiments are conducted on the same target plate. The target plate material used in the experiment is 603steel, with a square target size of 300 mm × 150 mm × 150 mm. By adjusting the charge amount to control the firing speed of the projectile, a high-speed camera is used to record the flight attitude of the penetrator and the process of the penetrator-target interaction, and the flight speed of the penetrator is measured through a speed measuring target. The distance between the front surface of the target and the muzzle is 10 meters. Because the penetrator is a subcaliber projectile, a magazine is used to support and secure the penetrator during launch. The physical objects related to the range layout are shown in Fig. 13. Table 3 Experimental conditions Serial Number Penetrator structures Expected speed /（m/s） Charge amount /g Actual Speed /（m/s） #1 Homogeneous tungsten 1165 275 1481.0 #2 Homogeneous tungsten 1165 275 1447.3 #3 Composite tungsten alloy 1500 275 1476.0 #4 Composite tungsten alloy 1500 275 1475.9 4.2 Experimental results and analysis Fig. 14 shows the morphology of the bullet holes on the front of the target plate. It can be seen that the impact of the penetrator on the target plate forms an approximately circular crater and produces a flipping lip. As shown in Fig. 15, wire cutting was performed on the target plate after the experiment, and it was found that the penetration holes of the homogeneous penetrator became rough after penetration, leaving traces of high-temperature melting, friction, and mass consumption. The residual penetrator had a large mass and the tip was upsetting, forming a mushroom shaped shape, which was blocked inside the crater. The composite penetrator is reflected in the smooth and metallic luster of the crater wall, with relatively less residual penetrator inside the crater, and a sharp crater tip. After measurement, the maximum penetration depths of two homogeneous penetrators (# 1 and # 2) were found to be 79 mm and 77 mm, respectively, with an average of 78 mm. The maximum penetration depth of the two composite penetrators (# 3 and # 4) is 80 mm and 80 mm, with an average of 80 mm. Compared to homogeneous penetrator, the average penetration depth of composite penetrator is increased by 2.56%. Although the maximum penetration depth of the composite penetrator in this experiment was only slightly increased compared to the homogeneous penetrator, it is clear from Fig. 15 that the sharpening trend of the composite penetrator tip is more pronounced. 4.3 Comparison of experimental and simulation results Due to the ideal situation, the simulation shows that the penetrator vertically penetrates the target plate, resulting in a straight and non-curved crater channel. However, in the actual penetration process, the impact conditions will always deviate from the ideal penetration, and the experimental conditions can only shoot the target plate horizontally. Although there is a tail fin to stabilize the penetrator, there will still be some slight bending during the penetration of the penetrator into the target plate under the influence of gravity. From Fig. 16, it can be seen that the maximum penetration depth errors of homogeneous penetrator and composite penetrator tests and simulations are 8.97% and 11.25%, respectively, both less than 15%, indicating good agreement between simulation and experimental results. Meanwhile, both experimental and simulation methods have verified that the penetration depth of composite penetrator is always greater than that of homogeneous penetrator. Compared to homogeneous penetrator, composite penetrator has amplification rates of 2.56% and 4.71%, respectively. From the experimental images, it can be seen that the homogeneous penetrator experiences upsetting at the tip during penetration into the target plate and is not easily corroded, resulting in the residual penetrator remaining in the crater having a mushroom shaped head. The composite penetrator is severely eroded during penetration, with high adiabatic shear sensitivity and a sharp crater tip shape. Through comprehensive analysis, it can be concluded that the penetration performance of composite penetrator is comparable to that of homogeneous penetrator, but the sharp tip of composite penetrator has a slightly larger penetration depth, indicating that the composite structure design of the penetrator can better maintain penetration performance and has the advantage of developing towards better penetration performance. 5. Microscopic analysis of the penetration mechanism During the penetration process, the penetrator rubs against the target plate at high speed, and the force and deformation on the penetrator tip are the greatest in the complex force environment of high temperature and high pressure. Therefore, this paper will perform wire-electrode cutting on the recovered target plate after the experiment, and use field emission environmental scanning electron microscopy (FEI Quanta 250F) to analyze the macroscopic shape evolution and microstructure of the residual tips of composite and homogeneous penetrators. The microstructure changes of materials at different positions of the residual penetrator tips will be compared and studied, and the penetration mechanism of composite penetrators will be further analyzed. Fig. 17 shows a partial micrograph of the residual tip of a homogeneous penetrator in the target plate. It can be seen that the residual penetrator tip is in the shape of a "mushroom-like head" and has a large number of brittle cracks attached. The cracks rapidly expand and induce unstable fracture of the material, causing peeling. Region a is the front end of the penetrator tip, and it is evident that during the penetration process, cracks collapse and form a large number of concave pits. The residual penetrator undergoes significant plastic deformation, and the crack angle is nearly 180 degrees, causing the front-end material to peel off from the residual body. Regions b and c are the two sides where the residual penetrator contacts the target plate, and the cracks gradually widen and become concave, forming some concave pits. Regions e and f are the middle regions of the residual penetrator. From Fig. 17, it can be observed that at the macroscopic level, the residual penetrator has been broken into two sections by a transverse through large crack at location e. In region e, the penetrator near the crack is broken into small pieces, and there are significant separation intervals between each piece, which subsequently evolve into concave pits. In regions d and f, "chevron patterns" appear in the residual penetrator. In summary, after the homogeneous penetrator penetrates the target plate, the residual penetrator itself will produce a large number of brittle cracks and pits. These cracks and pits cause the homogeneous penetrator tip to continuously detach along with the cracks during penetration, resulting in the so-called "self-sharpening effect", until the penetrator can no longer meet the conditions for further penetration. Fig. 18 shows the local microstructure morphology of the residual tip damage area of the composite penetrator. Among them, it can be seen from the enlarged regions b, c, and d that the outer layer material tungsten grains in contact with the target plate exhibit plastic flow (in the direction of the yellow arrow), while the tungsten grains in the area connected to the inner layer material still maintain a relatively round state. By zooming in on areas a, e, and f, it can be seen that the failure and damage of the inner layer material are not the same as those of the outer layer material. Radial "river patterns" appear in the inner layer material area, exhibiting a certain degree of brittle fracture behavior, but not as strong as the homogeneous penetrator. There is no obvious flattening or plastic deformation at the fracture site, and there is obvious brittle fracture. In summary, the deformation and failure of composite penetrator mainly occur in the edge layer of the tip and a small area around it, showing localized characteristics. Compared with homogeneous penetrator, there was no large crack truncation phenomenon or a large number of brittle cracks in the tip of the composite residual penetrator, indicating that the strength and ductility of the composite penetrator have a better synergistic effect, which is conducive to improving the separation and peeling phenomenon of homogeneous penetrator. A composite penetrator with better toughness and moderate strength can better ensure the tip integrity and penetration power durability of the internal core. 6. Conclusions This paper designs a composite tungsten alloy penetrator and discusses its mechanical behavior and penetration performance through experimental and simulation methods. The macroscopic and microscopic morphology of the residual penetrator tip is observed, and the penetration mechanism of the penetrator is analyzed. The main conclusions drawn are as follows. 1) A composite tungsten alloy penetrator was designed with pure tungsten as the inner layer material and 91W-Ni-Fe as the outer layer material, with a thickness ratio of 6:4 between the inner and outer layers. Mechanical performance tests were conducted, and the Johnson-Cook constitutive relationship parameters of the composite tungsten alloy penetrator were analyzed and fitted as follows: A=1096 MPa, B=846 MPa, n=0.235, C=0.049. Based on the fitting parameters, simulation research was conducted and it was found that the design of composite tungsten alloy to some extent avoided the formation of "mushroom-like head" in the penetrator and improved the self-sharpening. 2) The penetration performance of composite tungsten alloy penetrators and homogeneous tungsten penetrators was compared through simulation and experiment, with improvements of 4.71% and 2.56%, respectively. Although the enhancement effect of composite structure penetrators is not significant, they have strong "tip-type self-sharpening" ability. 3) The analysis obtained the macroscopic and microscopic morphology of the residual penetrator, and found that the deformation and failure of the composite tungsten alloy penetrator exhibited localized characteristics, mainly occurring in the edge layer of the tip and a small area around it. The composite structure of the penetrator can reduce the number of cracks and avoid the phenomenon of large crack truncation. Compared with homogeneous tungsten penetrator, composite tungsten alloy penetrator can better ensure the integrity of the penetrator tip and the durability of penetration power. Future studies will comprehensively consider the impact of varying the types of inner and outer materials and their thickness ratio on the penetration performance of the composite core in double-layer structures. Additionally, the influence of factors such as the number of structural layers and the tungsten composition gradient is being studied and taken into account. Declarations Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Acknowledgements The work presented in this paper has been funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 12302437). CRediT authorship contribution statement: Feng-ying Long: Writing-original draft, Software, Methodology, Data curation, Conceptualization. Wei-bing Li: Writing-review & editing, Supervision, Formal analysis. Jun-bao Li: Writing-review & editing, Validation, Data curation, Funding acquisition. Bin Zou: Writing-review & editing, Software. References Ennedy C, Murr L E. Comparison of tungsten heavy-alloy rod penetration into ductile and hard metal targets: microstructural analysis and computer simulations[J]. Materials Science & Engineering A, 2002, 325(1-2):131-143. Cai W D, Li Y, Dowding R J, et al. A review of tungsten-based alloys as kinetic energy penetrator materials[J]. Reviews in Particulate Materials, 1995, 3(4):71-132. Hafizoglu N K H E. 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Behavior of Segmented Projectile Penetrating into Ceramic/Steel Composite Armor[J]. Acta Armamentarii, 2023, 44(12): 3667. YU Z, WANG S, DONG F, et al. Gradient Design of Segmented Rod Projectile[J]. Acta Armamentarii, 2022, 43(9): 2300. Kishi T, German R M. Processing effects on the mechanical properties of tungsten heavy alloys[R]. Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (USA). Dept. of Materials Engineering, 1990. Wang B, Cao S H, Zhao J, et al. Gradient structure W(Mo)-Ni-Fe tungsten heavy alloy[J]. Materials Science and Engineering of Powder Metallurgy, 2011,16(2):5. Humail I S, Qu X, Jia C, et al. Morphology and microstructure characterization of 95W-3.5 Ni-1.5 Fe powder prepared by mechanical alloying[J]. Journal of University of Science and Technology Bei**g, Mineral, Metallurgy, Material, 2006, 13(5): 442-445. Ren, Jie, Xu, et al. Dynamic mechanical behaviors and failure thresholds of ultra-high strength low-alloy steel under strain rate 0.001/s to 10(6)/s[J]. 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Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 16 Dec, 2024 Read the published version in Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Accept 03 Dec, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 28 Nov, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 28 Nov, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 26 Nov, 2024 First submitted to journal 25 Nov, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5096476","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":383836885,"identity":"e647eeff-b6f7-4ae6-9937-aab745c5e12f","order_by":0,"name":"Fengying Long","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Nanjing University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Fengying","middleName":"","lastName":"Long","suffix":""},{"id":383836886,"identity":"63a75eec-a011-465a-bcd4-78b4efecfa49","order_by":1,"name":"Weibing Li","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAvUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFCCA0BcwJDAz8x8+AHxWg4YMCRItrOlGZBgEVCLwXkeBQmiVJsznjH+/MHgcJ7xYR4GA4Yam2iCWiwbzphJHDA4XGx2mPfAA4ZjabkNhLQYHDhjBnTY7cRth/kSDBgbDhOlxfgDSMvmZh4DCWK1GEiAtGxgJl7LsTKJMwb/iyUOAwM5gSi/3Di8+UNFRVoef//hww8+1NgQ1sIgcQCJk0BQOQjwEzZ1FIyCUTAKRjoAAJzORmjrNcLsAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Nanjing University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Weibing","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":383836887,"identity":"7e85312e-025e-4c55-ad60-ded7e37d76b3","order_by":2,"name":"Jun-bao Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Nanjing University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jun-bao","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":383836888,"identity":"9eb72dd1-2151-439b-abfa-76686c734d70","order_by":3,"name":"Bin Zou","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Nanjing University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Bin","middleName":"","lastName":"Zou","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-09-16 09:49:45","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5096476/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5096476/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-024-05337-4","type":"published","date":"2024-12-16T15:57:43+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":70555594,"identity":"4fd69c22-9d77-4370-9c1e-8aee0b26d02e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:01:07","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":132716,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSchematic diagram of composite and homogeneous penetrator\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/6af3ffd8f57508d9181b4e6e.png"},{"id":70556633,"identity":"a95e55ac-755b-4bdb-8fb4-68337d53002f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:09:07","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":148609,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eElectronic universal testing machine (CSS-44200 model)\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/47d8df7e8563b78a3a23024b.png"},{"id":70556636,"identity":"6ebb8772-f11f-4e52-8d2b-afd9e122933b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:09:07","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":62430,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eHopkinson pressure bar\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/e04dbea234157c94f6405c25.png"},{"id":70555604,"identity":"4421918d-4502-4a96-b6a6-e273abfe6a5a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:01:07","extension":"png","order_by":4,"title":"Figure 4","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":166805,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eQuasi-static compression test results of homogeneous tungsten and composite tungsten alloys\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/87bff2059fa7e90186d170ef.png"},{"id":70555598,"identity":"a4228434-6240-4f6e-8769-098392d6da44","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:01:07","extension":"png","order_by":5,"title":"Figure 5","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":67910,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eDynamic compressive stress-strain curves of homogeneous tungsten under different strain rates\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"5.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/dba74adc8aee1332183fe11d.png"},{"id":70556634,"identity":"5c42f3b5-117f-48e0-a1b6-93b9463f8d09","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:09:07","extension":"png","order_by":6,"title":"Figure 6","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":59474,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eDynamic compressive stress-strain curves of composite tungsten alloy under different strain rates\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"6.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/11a63f583956067a213c76f9.png"},{"id":70555601,"identity":"61a8a035-7aa8-4bf6-afb7-444ff3727c39","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:01:07","extension":"png","order_by":7,"title":"Figure 7","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":87629,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eDynamic compression experiment yield strength results\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"7.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/4fac2fb5c2b5eaa543071445.png"},{"id":70558050,"identity":"2e8a72f7-95a4-4947-81f8-ad0d34625d94","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:25:07","extension":"png","order_by":8,"title":"Figure 8","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":139915,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSpecific models and grid division of penetrator and target plate\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"8.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/7ca3bc34e7597135ea959a04.png"},{"id":70556635,"identity":"01dc84bf-6126-4234-9e18-65b4122547f7","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:09:07","extension":"png","order_by":9,"title":"Figure 9","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":98186,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eThe penetration process of homogeneous and composite penetrator\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"9.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/55eea50d167ab8a8de4dae81.png"},{"id":70555605,"identity":"56b835ac-1255-438c-9beb-a031779611c4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:01:07","extension":"png","order_by":10,"title":"Figure 10","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":123427,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003ePenetration depth variation of homogeneous and composite penetrators\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"10.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/dd5cd89e9dd3117f4c8b3f0e.png"},{"id":70556882,"identity":"a786cff7-ebe4-4ba8-abf3-8f4ca8e3713e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:17:07","extension":"png","order_by":11,"title":"Figure 11","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":240033,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eThe variation of different parameters during the penetration process of different penetrator\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"11.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/6c262478933e293346b0ae53.png"},{"id":70555614,"identity":"515864c0-4b06-4afb-9fbc-08a527baf357","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:01:07","extension":"png","order_by":12,"title":"Figure 12","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":112721,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eExperimental apparatus\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"12.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/fc272aea4a289368cd599a65.png"},{"id":70555609,"identity":"2a892215-1803-4625-8f66-72e870630ed1","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:01:07","extension":"png","order_by":13,"title":"Figure 13","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":460945,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003ePhysical image of shooting range layout\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"13.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/0ab3ad0b05ec3040c1610e72.png"},{"id":70555612,"identity":"79a0eff2-5a25-4aaa-9392-fe236c6efb27","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:01:07","extension":"png","order_by":14,"title":"Figure 14","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":135701,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eMorphology of bullet holes on the front of the target plate\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"14.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/46840d5a7a4a132313125d1d.png"},{"id":70556643,"identity":"d9abc1fd-2af7-4f7c-bd92-6ff12ea976e3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:09:07","extension":"png","order_by":15,"title":"Figure 15","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":353101,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eMaximum penetration depth for different schemes\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"15.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/0eff7b0b35e34545217bb584.png"},{"id":70556641,"identity":"0fc39e9a-d4a0-4268-a7d2-9e4a996ad73e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:09:07","extension":"png","order_by":16,"title":"Figure 16","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":130435,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eComparison of maximum penetration depth between experiment and simulation\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"16.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/6e6e28503308b47b0d229519.png"},{"id":70556883,"identity":"7ce567c9-6983-4da2-8903-1027c0d5fa48","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:17:07","extension":"png","order_by":17,"title":"Figure 17","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":385167,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eResidual tip and local microstructure of homogeneous penetrator\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"17.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/a55edb7e2247c37052d0ceec.png"},{"id":70556637,"identity":"2dbf428c-6b72-4888-a4ca-e8446bebe13a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-04 11:09:07","extension":"png","order_by":18,"title":"Figure 18","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":408022,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eResidual tip and local microstructure of composite penetrator\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"18.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/9c973efd7eede8ff1d16ef73.png"},{"id":72201836,"identity":"d9c22509-05d7-4391-babe-3a0a3ab13c74","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-23 16:10:57","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":4076741,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5096476/v1/15677ea7-b989-4c11-85c2-07c5dac87494.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"","formattedTitle":"Study on the mechanical behavior and penetration performance of composite tungsten alloy penetrator","fulltext":[{"header":"1.\tIntroduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eWith the continuous development of modern armor technology, the requirements for the comprehensive performance of armor-piercing projectile are becoming increasingly high. In recent years, tungsten heavy alloys (WHAs) with high density and good mechanical properties have become the mainstream core material for kinetic energy penetrator. However, due to their high plasticity, the tip of penetrator is first passivated into a \u0026quot;mushroom-like head\u0026quot; during penetration, resulting in increased resistance and reduced penetration depth [1-3]. Therefore, in order to enhance the \u0026quot;self-sharpening effect\u0026quot; and armor-piercing power of tungsten alloy penetrator, it is imperative to explore a new type of tungsten alloy penetrator structure.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost scholars have improved the penetration depth performance of penetrator by selecting new materials or modifying structures. Penetrator material is one of the main breakthroughs point for improving the armor-piercing ability of armor-piercing projectile. At present, the applications of new armor-piercing materials mainly involve WF/Zr-MG, fine-grained tungsten alloys, and WHAs, which primarily aim to improve the self-sharpening capability of the material to enhance penetration depth. Conner [4,5]\u0026nbsp;believes that the self-sharpening behavior of the composite WF/Zr-MG rod is caused by the failure of local adiabatic shear bands.\u0026nbsp;Chen[6,7]\u0026nbsp;found that the self-sharpening effect is mainly reflected in the \u0026quot;cavitation effect\u0026quot;, where WF/Zr-MG composite materials have crater diameters that are more than 10% smaller than tungsten. Rong\u0026nbsp;[8,9]\u0026nbsp;indicates that it is mainly caused by matrix damage and fiber fracture in the thin and narrow \u0026quot;edge layer\u0026quot; region. Although scholars have different interpretations, studies have shown that WF/Zr-MG rods exhibit a significant \u0026quot;self-sharpening phenomenon\u0026quot; during penetration\u0026nbsp;[10-12].\u0026nbsp;Fan et al.\u0026nbsp;[13]\u0026nbsp;and Chen et al.\u0026nbsp;[14]\u0026nbsp;introduced fine-grained tungsten alloy rods (such as fine-grained 95W-3.75Ni-1.25Fe) to conduct ballistic impact tests, and found that reducing the tungsten grain size to achieve self-sharpening can improve the adiabatic shear sensitivity of the rods. However, issues such as poor ductility and strict preparation processes still limit the practical application of these new composite materials. Therefore, from the perspective of practical engineering applications, WHAs that possess both good self-sharpening capabilities and ductility are still the preferred materials for kinetic energy armor-piercing projectiles.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe density and strength of WHAs are relatively high, which in some cases may limit the enhancement of penetration performance. Therefore, some scholars have started with structural optimization and improved the overall penetration capability of the penetrator through various methods, such as adding a jacket and segmentation. The jacket rod consists of a central high-density core and a low-density jacket. Kui Tang et al. [15] and Pedersen et al. [16] found that the penetration performance of the bullet rods with added jackets was significantly better than that of homogeneous bullet rods. And the proportion, thickness, and material of the jacket have a significant impact on penetration performance[15-18]. To improve the deformation and fragmentation of the penetrator, Kucher [19] proposed using segmented penetrator to optimize penetration capability. Magier [20]\u0026nbsp;found that the rear segment penetrator can impact the front segment penetrator to give it some additional kinetic energy, thereby increasing the overall penetration depth. Orphal\u0026nbsp;[21]\u0026nbsp;indicates a segmented rod will penetrate a semi-infinite metal target deeper than a continuous rod of the same material and having equal mass, diameter and velocity.\u0026nbsp;The penetration performance of segmented armor-piercing bullets is also affected by factors such as segmentation ratio, segmentation spacing, and crater diameter\u0026nbsp;[22-25]. However, in practical applications, these improvement schemes also come with defects such as large projectile length, difficulty with connection, launching, or deployment.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn summary, previous studies have shown that considering materials or structures from a single dimension may lead to issues such as material overloading or structural instability. Therefore, this paper comprehensively considers both material and structure, draws on the concept of layered structure, and fully utilizes the strength, hardness, and dynamic failure characteristics of different materials to design a composite structure tungsten alloy penetrator. By using numerical simulation and ballistic gun tests, the mechanical behavior and penetration performance differences between composite tungsten alloy penetrator and homogeneous tungsten penetrator are explored, and the penetration process and maximum penetration depth of the penetrator are obtained. By using scanning electron microscopy to obtain the local microstructure of the residual penetrator tip, the penetration mechanism of the penetrator is analyzed in depth, providing reference for the design and manufacture of new penetrator structures with easy \u0026quot;self-sharpening\u0026quot; of the tip.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"2.\tMechanical property tests","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2.1\u0026nbsp;Design of composite penetrator\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe schematic structures of composite tungsten alloy penetrator and homogeneous tungsten penetrator (hereinafter referred to as \u0026quot;composite penetrator\u0026quot; and \u0026quot;homogeneous penetrator\u0026quot;, represented by the letters \u0026quot;C\u0026quot; and \u0026quot;H\u0026quot; respectively) are shown in Fig. 1. From Fig.1(a), it can be seen that the composite penetrator consists of two layers, namely the outer wrapping material (91W-Ni-Fe) and the inner core material (pure tungsten). Because studies in references [26-28]have shown that the W-Ni-Fe system is commonly used as a material for armor-piercing projectile due to its high strength and toughness. The overall diameter of the composite penetrator is 10 mm and the length is 100 mm. The thickness ratio of inner and outer materials is the key factor affecting the penetration ability of composite penetrator. Pedersen et al. [16] conducted a study on the penetration performance of steel jacketed tungsten alloy long rods into steel targets, and found that the optimal penetration performance is achieved when the ratio of jacket radius to core material radius is 0.6. Therefore, based on the relevant research results and data on the improvement of the penetration performance of the penetrator after adding a jacket, this paper preliminarily designs a composite penetrator with an inner and outer material thickness ratio of 6:4 (i.e. a ratio of 0.6 between the inner and outer material radii). From Fig.1(b), the homogeneous penetrator material is pure tungsten, with a diameter of 10 mm and a length of 100 mm.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2.2\u0026nbsp;Experimental apparatus\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, quasi-static compression tests and dynamic tensile tests were conducted on the composite penetrator structure using an electronic universal testing machine (CSS-44200 model) and a Hopkinson pressure bar, respectively. The maximum load of electronic universal testing machine is 200 KN, the loading rate is 0.6 mm/min, and the strain rate is 1\u0026times;10\u003csup\u003e-3\u003c/sup\u003e s\u003csup\u003e-1\u003c/sup\u003e. The shape of the test specimen is cylindrical, with dimensions of\u0026nbsp;\u0026empty;6 mm\u0026times;10 mm. The diameter of the Hopkinson pressure bar is 14.5 mm, the material of the bar is spring steel, the incident bar is 1500 mm, the transmission bar is 1500 mm, the elastic modulus is 206 GPa, the density is 7800 kg\u0026frasl;m\u003csup\u003e3\u003c/sup\u003e, and the strain rate is in the range of 1000-4500 s\u003csup\u003e-1\u003c/sup\u003e. The specimen remains cylindrical, with dimensions changed to \u0026empty;6 mm\u0026times;3 mm.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2.3\u0026nbsp;Mechanical test results and analysis\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFig. 4 shows the quasi-static compression test results of homogeneous tungsten and composite tungsten alloys, including stress-strain curves and the degree of deformation of the specimens before and after the test. It can be seen that there was no crushing phenomenon observed in the two specimens, and the specimens rebounded and recovered well. After the linear elastic deformation stage, there is no obvious yield point for the two specimens. Referring to reference [29], the intersection point of the fitting curves of the elastic stage and the initial plastic flow stage (real strain between 0.05 and 0.15) is used as the yield point to obtain the compressive yield strengths of homogeneous tungsten and composite tungsten alloys, which are 1165 MPa and 1096 MPa, respectively.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe main purpose of studying the dynamic behavior of materials at high strain rates is to determine the variation of mechanical properties (strength, plasticity) with strain rate [30]. To obtain the changes in dynamic compression mechanical properties of homogeneous tungsten and composite tungsten alloys, multiple unidirectional dynamic compression tests were conducted by adjusting the loading pressure (0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, 0.3, 0.35, 0.4, 0.45, 0.5). The dynamic compression stress-strain curves of homogeneous tungsten and composite tungsten alloy specimens under different strain rates are shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConsistent with the yield strength obtained from static compression tests, the dynamic yield strength results are shown in Fig. 7. It can be seen that compared to low strain rates, the dynamic compressive yield strength of both materials is significantly improved at high strain rates, and increases with the increase of strain rate, indicating that both materials have strain rate strengthening effects. Within the strain rate range of 500-5000 s\u003csup\u003e-1\u003c/sup\u003e, the yield strength of homogeneous tungsten varies from 1340-2145 MPa, while that of composite tungsten alloy ranges from 1621-2042 MPa, indicating that composite tungsten alloy has better strain rate strengthening effect than homogeneous tungsten. At loading pressures of 0.1-0.5, the maximum yield strengths of homogeneous tungsten and composite tungsten alloys are 2145 MPa and 2042 MPa, respectively. In summary, the results of the passive and static compression tests show that the yield strength of composite tungsten alloy does not significantly decrease compared to homogeneous tungsten, and it can still retain good material mechanical properties.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2.4\u0026nbsp;Determination of Johnson-Cook constitutive model parameters\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReferring to references [31-34], through a series of formula simplifications and experimental data fitting, the A, B, n, and C parameters of homogeneous tungsten and composite tungsten alloys were obtained as shown in Table 1, laying the foundation for further research on composite penetrator penetration simulation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTable 1 Fitting constitutive parameters for two types of penetrator structures\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv align=\"Left\"\u003e\n \u003ctable border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"495\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 30.9091%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMaterial\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eComposite tungsten alloy\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHomogeneous tungsten\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 30.9091%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026rho;\u003c/em\u003e/(g/cm\u003csup\u003e3\u003c/sup\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e17.3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e18.75\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 30.9091%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA\u003c/em\u003e/(MPa)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1096\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1165\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 30.9091%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eB\u003c/em\u003e/(MPa)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e846\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1050\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 30.9091%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003en\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.235\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.194\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 30.9091%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ec\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.049\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.043\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 30.9091%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003em\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 30.9091%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eG\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003e/(GPa)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e70\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e65\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 30.9091%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eE\u003c/em\u003e/(GPa)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e147\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e160\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 30.9091%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026micro;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.14\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.13\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 30.9091%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e/K\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1850\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1490\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 30.9091%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ec\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ev\u003c/sub\u003e/(J/Kg\u0026middot;k)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e134\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e134\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 30.9091%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eD\u003csub\u003e1\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 30.9091%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eD\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.7\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 30.9091%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eD\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-2.2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-3.2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 30.9091%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eD\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.019\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.024\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 30.9091%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eD\u003csub\u003e5\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.41\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 34.5455%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.47\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n \u003c/table\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"3.\tLS-DYNA simulations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.1\u0026nbsp;Modeling\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSimulate and calculate the design of homogeneous tungsten penetrator and composite tungsten alloy penetrator, with a penetrator length of 100 mm, a diameter of 10 mm, and a length to diameter ratio of 10. Adopting 603 armored steel target plate, with a length of 150 mm and a diameter of 40 mm. The thickness ratio of the inner and outer materials in the design of the composite tungsten alloy penetrator is 6:4, and the penetration performance of the composite tungsten alloy penetrator is studied at a striking velocity of 1400 m/s.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUsing LS-DYNA software to establish a simulation calculation model, in order to reduce calculation time, a 1/4 model was adopted and symmetric constraints were applied on the symmetry plane. Solid164 three-dimensional solid elements were used for the calculation mesh, with a mesh size of 0.15 mm\u0026times;0.15mm for the penetrator, 0.15 mm\u0026times;0.15mm for the target plate in the impact area of the penetrator, and transition meshes size of 0.30 mm\u0026times;0.30 mm for the target plate other parts [37]. The internal and external components of the composite penetrator use grid common nodes. The boundary treatment of the simulation model is a non-reflective boundary condition, the erosion contact is surface to surface, and the state equation is Gruneisen. The entire process of penetrator-target interaction is carried out using Lagrange algorithm. The Johnson-Cook constitutive model was also used for the target plate material, and the main parameters of material model are shown in Table 2. The specific models and grid division of the penetrator and target plate are shown in Fig. 8.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTable 2 Main parameters of material model [35,36]\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv align=\"Left\"\u003e\n \u003ctable border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"516\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 22.093%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMaterial\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 28.2946%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e603steel\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMaterial\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e603steel\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 22.093%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026rho;\u003c/em\u003e/(g/cm\u003csup\u003e3\u003c/sup\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 28.2946%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e7.8\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026micro;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.33\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 22.093%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA\u003c/em\u003e/(MPa)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 28.2946%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1120\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003em\u003c/sub\u003e/K\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1793\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 22.093%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eB\u003c/em\u003e/(MPa)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 28.2946%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e500\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ec\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003ev\u003c/sub\u003e/(J/Kg\u0026middot;k)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e477\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 22.093%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003en\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 28.2946%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.26\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eD\u003csub\u003e1\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 22.093%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ec\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 28.2946%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.014\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eD\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.4\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 22.093%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003em\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 28.2946%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.03\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eD\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-2.5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 22.093%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eG\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003e/(GPa)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 28.2946%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e75\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eD\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.026\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 22.093%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eE\u003c/em\u003e/(GPa)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 28.2946%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e206\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eD\u003csub\u003e5\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 24.8062%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.61\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n \u003c/table\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.2\u0026nbsp;Numerical simulation results and analysis\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFig. 9 shows the variation process of homogeneous penetrator and composite penetrator penetration into 603 steel target plate. It can be seen that due to the high-speed movement of the penetrator, the interaction between the penetrator and the target plate causes elastic-plastic deformation of the target plate material, resulting in a continuously deepening crater. The two types of penetrators fracture and flow in reverse along the crater. And the penetration depth of both types of penetrators continues to deepen over time. Among them, when \u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e\u0026lt;60 \u0026micro;s, there is no significant difference in the penetration depth between the two types of penetrators; When \u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e\u0026gt;60 \u0026micro;s, the difference in penetration depth between the two types of penetrators gradually increases, and the penetration depth of the composite penetrator is always greater than that of the homogeneous penetrator (yellow lines are used in Fig. 9 to represent the penetration depth of the penetrator at the corresponding time, in order to visually display the difference in penetration depth between the two types of penetrators).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFig. 10 shows the penetration depth changes of homogeneous and composite penetrators. Analysis shows that with the passage of penetration time, the penetration depth of both types of penetrators increases linearly in the early stage and tends to plateau in the later stage. The maximum penetration depths of homogeneous and composite penetrators are 85 mm and 89 mm, respectively. Compared to a homogeneous penetrator, the maximum penetration depth of a composite penetrator is increased by 4.71%. Meanwhile, it can be seen from the vertex line of the bar chart in Fig. 14 that the penetration depth of the composite penetrator is always greater than that of the homogeneous penetrator, and compared with the homogeneous penetrator, the time for the composite penetrator to reach the maximum penetration depth is delayed by about 20 \u0026micro;s, indicating that the composite penetrator has better penetration power persistence.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFig. 11 shows the variation patterns of different parameters during the penetration process of different penetrators, such as velocity, kinetic energy, and acceleration. It can be seen that the velocity and kinetic energy of the composite penetrator are always greater than those of the homogeneous penetrator. And the velocity and kinetic energy of both types of penetrators decrease linearly with time, until the kinetic energy of the penetrator decays to zero and the penetration stops at \u003cem\u003et\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e=150 \u0026micro;s. On the contrary, at this time, the velocity curve of the penetrator shows a slight acceleration phenomenon, which is due to the inertia effect causing the penetrator to rebound slightly and increase in velocity. However, this phenomenon has no effect on the final penetration depth of the penetrator. By analyzing the variation law of acceleration during the penetration process of the penetrator in Fig. 11, it can be concluded that in the early stage of penetration, the acceleration of the penetrator increases linearly, and the acceleration of the composite penetrator is always greater than that of the homogeneous penetrator; After reaching the maximum acceleration range (\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e=50-60 \u0026micro;s), the acceleration continuously decays until it approaches zero. Among them, based on the change image of the penetrator at \u003cem\u003et\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e=60 \u0026micro;s, it can be seen that the design of composite tungsten alloy to some extent avoids the formation of the \u0026quot;mushroom-like head\u0026quot; of the penetrator and improves the self-sharpening ability of the composite penetrator.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTherefore, by combining the variation laws of parameters such as the velocity, kinetic energy, and acceleration of the penetrator, and further analyzing the reasons why the composite penetrator has a greater penetration depth, it can be concluded that the composite penetrator exhibits different impact responses and dynamic behaviors during penetration of the target plate due to the different densities, hardness, and yield strengths of the inner and outer layers of materials. When subjected to the same resistance of the target plate, the outer layer of tungsten alloy material plays a dominant role in erosion and falls off after penetration and wear, while the inner layer of pure tungsten maintains its original strength and stiffness and continues to penetrate. The effective synergy of the properties of the inner and outer layers ensures that the composite penetrator always has sufficient penetration power to continue penetrating the target plate, thereby increasing the penetration depth.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"4.\tBallistic gun tests","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.1\u0026nbsp;Experimental details\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUsing the experimental apparatus shown in Fig. 12, ballistic gun tests were conducted at the Tangshan Research and Testing Center of Nanjing University of Science and Technology. Using a 37mm caliber ballistic gun for shooting, the experimental conditions are shown in Table 3, and each condition is repeated twice. The semi-infinite thickness homogeneous steel target is fixed on the target frame, and the actual landing position of the penetrator is adjusted by adjusting the position of the target plate. Multiple experiments are conducted on the same target plate. The target plate material used in the experiment is 603steel, with a square target size of 300 mm \u0026times; 150 mm \u0026times; 150 mm. By adjusting the charge amount to control the firing speed of the projectile, a high-speed camera is used to record the flight attitude of the penetrator and the process of the penetrator-target interaction, and the flight speed of the penetrator is measured through a speed measuring target. The distance between the front surface of the target and the muzzle is 10 meters. Because the penetrator is a subcaliber projectile, a magazine is used to support and secure the penetrator during launch. The physical objects related to the range layout are shown in Fig. 13.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTable 3 Experimental conditions\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv align=\"Left\"\u003e\n \u003ctable border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"539\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 15.7699%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSerial Number\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 29.8701%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003ePenetrator structures\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 20.9647%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eExpected speed /（m/s）\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 15.7699%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eCharge amount /g\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 17.6252%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eActual Speed /（m/s）\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 15.7699%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e#1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 29.8701%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHomogeneous tungsten\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 20.9647%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1165\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 15.7699%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e275\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 17.6252%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1481.0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 15.7699%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e#2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 29.8701%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHomogeneous tungsten\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 20.9647%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1165\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 15.7699%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e275\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 17.6252%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1447.3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 15.7699%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e#3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 29.8701%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eComposite tungsten alloy\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 20.9647%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1500\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 15.7699%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e275\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 17.6252%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1476.0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 15.7699%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e#4\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 29.8701%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eComposite tungsten alloy\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 20.9647%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1500\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 15.7699%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e275\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 17.6252%;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1475.9\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n \u003c/table\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.2\u0026nbsp;Experimental results and analysis\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFig. 14 shows the morphology of the bullet holes on the front of the target plate. It can be seen that the impact of the penetrator on the target plate forms an approximately circular crater and produces a flipping lip. As shown in Fig. 15, wire cutting was performed on the target plate after the experiment, and it was found that the penetration holes of the homogeneous penetrator became rough after penetration, leaving traces of high-temperature melting, friction, and mass consumption. The residual penetrator had a large mass and the tip was upsetting, forming a mushroom shaped shape, which was blocked inside the crater. The composite penetrator is reflected in the smooth and metallic luster of the crater wall, with relatively less residual penetrator inside the crater, and a sharp crater tip. After measurement, the maximum penetration depths of two homogeneous penetrators (# 1 and # 2) were found to be 79 mm and 77 mm, respectively, with an average of 78 mm. The maximum penetration depth of the two composite penetrators (# 3 and # 4) is 80 mm and 80 mm, with an average of 80 mm. Compared to homogeneous penetrator, the average penetration depth of composite penetrator is increased by 2.56%. Although the maximum penetration depth of the composite penetrator in this experiment was only slightly increased compared to the homogeneous penetrator, it is clear from Fig. 15 that the sharpening trend of the composite penetrator tip is more pronounced.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.3\u0026nbsp;Comparison of experimental and simulation results\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDue to the ideal situation, the simulation shows that the penetrator vertically penetrates the target plate, resulting in a straight and non-curved crater channel. However, in the actual penetration process, the impact conditions will always deviate from the ideal penetration, and the experimental conditions can only shoot the target plate horizontally. Although there is a tail fin to stabilize the penetrator, there will still be some slight bending during the penetration of the penetrator into the target plate under the influence of gravity. From Fig. 16, it can be seen that the maximum penetration depth errors of homogeneous penetrator and composite penetrator tests and simulations are 8.97% and 11.25%, respectively, both less than 15%, indicating good agreement between simulation and experimental results.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMeanwhile, both experimental and simulation methods have verified that the penetration depth of composite penetrator is always greater than that of homogeneous penetrator. Compared to homogeneous penetrator, composite penetrator has amplification rates of 2.56% and 4.71%, respectively. From the experimental images, it can be seen that the homogeneous penetrator experiences upsetting at the tip during penetration into the target plate and is not easily corroded, resulting in the residual penetrator remaining in the crater having a mushroom shaped head. The composite penetrator is severely eroded during penetration, with high adiabatic shear sensitivity and a sharp crater tip shape. Through comprehensive analysis, it can be concluded that the penetration performance of composite penetrator is comparable to that of homogeneous penetrator, but the sharp tip of composite penetrator has a slightly larger penetration depth, indicating that the composite structure design of the penetrator can better maintain penetration performance and has the advantage of developing towards better penetration performance.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"5.\tMicroscopic analysis of the penetration mechanism","content":"\u003cp\u003eDuring the penetration process, the penetrator rubs against the target plate at high speed, and the force and deformation on the penetrator tip are the greatest in the complex force environment of high temperature and high pressure. Therefore, this paper will perform wire-electrode cutting on the recovered target plate after the experiment, and use field emission environmental scanning electron microscopy (FEI Quanta 250F) to analyze the macroscopic shape evolution and microstructure of the residual tips of composite and homogeneous penetrators. The microstructure changes of materials at different positions of the residual penetrator tips will be compared and studied, and the penetration mechanism of composite penetrators will be further analyzed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFig. 17 shows a partial micrograph of the residual tip of a homogeneous penetrator in the target plate. It can be seen that the residual penetrator tip is in the shape of a \u0026quot;mushroom-like head\u0026quot; and has a large number of brittle cracks attached. The cracks rapidly expand and induce unstable fracture of the material, causing peeling. Region a is the front end of the penetrator tip, and it is evident that during the penetration process, cracks collapse and form a large number of concave pits. The residual penetrator undergoes significant plastic deformation, and the crack angle is nearly 180 degrees, causing the front-end material to peel off from the residual body. Regions b and c are the two sides where the residual penetrator contacts the target plate, and the cracks gradually widen and become concave, forming some concave pits. Regions e and f are the middle regions of the residual penetrator. From Fig. 17, it can be observed that at the macroscopic level, the residual penetrator has been broken into two sections by a transverse through large crack at location e. In region e, the penetrator near the crack is broken into small pieces, and there are significant separation intervals between each piece, which subsequently evolve into concave pits. In regions d and f, \u0026quot;chevron patterns\u0026quot; appear in the residual penetrator. In summary, after the homogeneous penetrator penetrates the target plate, the residual penetrator itself will produce a large number of brittle cracks and pits. These cracks and pits cause the homogeneous penetrator tip to continuously detach along with the cracks during penetration, resulting in the so-called \u0026quot;self-sharpening effect\u0026quot;, until the penetrator can no longer meet the conditions for further penetration.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFig. 18 shows the local microstructure morphology of the residual tip damage area of the composite penetrator. Among them, it can be seen from the enlarged regions b, c, and d that the outer layer material tungsten grains in contact with the target plate exhibit plastic flow (in the direction of the yellow arrow), while the tungsten grains in the area connected to the inner layer material still maintain a relatively round state. By zooming in on areas a, e, and f, it can be seen that the failure and damage of the inner layer material are not the same as those of the outer layer material. Radial \u0026quot;river patterns\u0026quot; appear in the inner layer material area, exhibiting a certain degree of brittle fracture behavior, but not as strong as the homogeneous penetrator. There is no obvious flattening or plastic deformation at the fracture site, and there is obvious brittle fracture. In summary, the deformation and failure of composite penetrator mainly occur in the edge layer of the tip and a small area around it, showing localized characteristics. Compared with homogeneous penetrator, there was no large crack truncation phenomenon or a large number of brittle cracks in the tip of the composite residual penetrator, indicating that the strength and ductility of the composite penetrator have a better synergistic effect, which is conducive to improving the separation and peeling phenomenon of homogeneous penetrator. A composite penetrator with better toughness and moderate strength can better ensure the tip integrity and penetration power durability of the internal core.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"6.\tConclusions","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis paper designs a composite tungsten alloy penetrator and discusses its mechanical behavior and penetration performance through experimental and simulation methods. The macroscopic and microscopic morphology of the residual penetrator tip is observed, and the penetration mechanism of the penetrator is analyzed. The main conclusions drawn are as follows.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1) \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;A composite tungsten alloy penetrator was designed with pure tungsten as the inner layer material and 91W-Ni-Fe as the outer layer material, with a thickness ratio of 6:4 between the inner and outer layers. Mechanical performance tests were conducted, and the Johnson-Cook constitutive relationship parameters of the composite tungsten alloy penetrator were analyzed and fitted as follows: A=1096 MPa, B=846 MPa, n=0.235, C=0.049. Based on the fitting parameters, simulation research was conducted and it was found that the design of composite tungsten alloy to some extent avoided the formation of \u0026quot;mushroom-like head\u0026quot; in the penetrator and improved the self-sharpening.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2) \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;The penetration performance of composite tungsten alloy penetrators and homogeneous tungsten penetrators was compared through simulation and experiment, with improvements of 4.71% and 2.56%, respectively. Although the enhancement effect of composite structure penetrators is not significant, they have strong \u0026quot;tip-type self-sharpening\u0026quot; ability.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3) \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;The analysis obtained the macroscopic and microscopic morphology of the residual penetrator, and found that the deformation and failure of the composite tungsten alloy penetrator exhibited localized characteristics, mainly occurring in the edge layer of the tip and a small area around it. The composite structure of the penetrator can reduce the number of cracks and avoid the phenomenon of large crack truncation. Compared with homogeneous tungsten penetrator, composite tungsten alloy penetrator can better ensure the integrity of the penetrator tip and the durability of penetration power.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFuture studies will comprehensively consider the impact of varying the types of inner and outer materials and their thickness ratio on the penetration performance of the composite core in double-layer structures. Additionally, the influence of factors such as the number of structural layers and the tungsten composition gradient is being studied and taken into account.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDeclaration of competing interest\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAcknowledgements\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe work presented in this paper has been funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 12302437).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCRediT authorship contribution statement:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFeng-ying Long: Writing-original draft, Software, Methodology, Data curation, Conceptualization. Wei-bing Li: Writing-review \u0026amp; editing, Supervision, Formal analysis. Jun-bao Li: Writing-review \u0026amp; editing, Validation, Data curation, Funding acquisition. Bin Zou: Writing-review \u0026amp; editing, Software.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEnnedy C, Murr L E. Comparison of tungsten heavy-alloy rod penetration into ductile and hard metal targets: microstructural analysis and computer simulations[J]. Materials Science \u0026amp; Engineering A, 2002, 325(1-2):131-143. \u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCai W D, Li Y, Dowding R J, et al. A review of tungsten-based alloys as kinetic energy penetrator materials[J]. Reviews in Particulate Materials, 1995, 3(4):71-132.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHafizoglu N K H E. Effects of sintering temperature and Ni/Fe ratio on ballistic performance of tungsten heavy alloy fragments[J]. 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IOP Publishing, 2024, 2760(1): 012076.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWang Y, Zeng X, Chen H, et al. Modified Johnson-Cook constitutive model of metallic materials under a wide range of temperatures and strain rates[J]. Results in physics, 2021, 27: 104498.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLuo R M. Study on penetration mechanism offine-grained tungsten heavy alloy penetrator[D]. Nanjing University of Science and Technology, 2017.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWang M. Experimentation research and mechanism analysis of fine-grain tungsten penetrator [D]. Nanjing University of Science and Technology, 2013.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eZou B, Li W B, Zhang Q. Numerical simulation of penetration performance of composite fine-grained tungsten alloy core [J], Journal of Ordnance Equipment Engineering,2023,44(S2):92-98,127.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"journal-of-the-brazilian-society-of-mechanical-sciences-and-engineering","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"bmse","sideBox":"Learn more about [Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering](http://link.springer.com/journal/40430)","snPcode":"40430","submissionUrl":"https://www.editorialmanager.com/bmse/default2.aspx","title":"Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Composite tungsten alloy penetrator, Mechanical behavior, Penetration performance, Microscopic analysis, Numerical simulation","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5096476/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5096476/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eTo improve the penetration performance of armor-piercing projectile, a composite tungsten alloy penetrator was designed, and mechanical property tests, LS-DYNA simulations and ballistic gun tests were conducted to investigate the mechanical behavior and penetration performance differences between composite tungsten alloy penetrator and homogeneous tungsten penetrator. The local microstructure of the residual penetrator tipwas obtained, and the penetration mechanism of the penetrator was deeply analyzed. The results show that the deformation and failure of composite tungsten alloy penetrator exhibit localized characteristics, and the composite structure of the penetrator can reduce the number of cracks and avoid the phenomenon of large cracks cutting off the penetrator. It can better ensure the integrity of the penetrator tip and the durability of penetration power, and has an increasing trend of \" tip-form self-sharpening\" ability, which has better penetration performance than homogeneous tungsten penetrator. It can provide theoretical reference for further structural optimization and performance improvement of armor-piercing projectile.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Study on the mechanical behavior and penetration performance of composite tungsten alloy penetrator","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-12-04 11:01:02","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5096476/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Accept","date":"2024-12-03T09:18:05+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"","date":"2024-11-28T13:33:22+00:00","index":0,"fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2024-11-28T11:35:59+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2024-11-26T21:30:15+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering","date":"2024-11-25T22:10:53+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"journal-of-the-brazilian-society-of-mechanical-sciences-and-engineering","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"bmse","sideBox":"Learn more about [Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering](http://link.springer.com/journal/40430)","snPcode":"40430","submissionUrl":"https://www.editorialmanager.com/bmse/default2.aspx","title":"Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"5d147f8d-320c-4ee0-84b5-1450f034a796","owner":[],"postedDate":"December 4th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-12-23T16:03:00+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-5096476","link":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-024-05337-4","journal":{"identity":"journal-of-the-brazilian-society-of-mechanical-sciences-and-engineering","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering"},"publishedOn":"2024-12-16 15:57:43","publishedOnDateReadable":"December 16th, 2024"},"versionCreatedAt":"2024-12-04 11:01:02","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1007/s40430-024-05337-4","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-024-05337-4","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-5096476","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-5096476","identity":"rs-5096476","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}