Analysis and Assessment of Powder Metallurgy Techniques for Armor Elements Production

The main aim of this work is to evaluate the possible application of powder metallurgy (PM) for the production of armour elements. Different materials were used, as starting base, consisting of pre-alloyed powders and powder mixtures with alloying elements like Mn, Mo, Cr, Ni and C. Disc (ASTM G 99) specimens were compacted by applying a pressure of 700 MPa. The sintering was carried out in a vacuum furnace with rapid cooling applied from the sintering temperature, by means of nitrogen gas flowing with an integrated final tempering. The ballistic performance of the sintered steels was investigated against 7.62 x 51 mm NATO ammunition. The application of high sintering temperatures with rapid cooling appears to be a good option for the future extension of PM to the current commercially available (wrought) materials for the production of armour plates.