Self-sharpening phenomena of tungsten fiber composite material penetrators during penetration

Two kinds of the penetrating rods,which were made of tungsten heavy alloy and tungsten-fiber-reinforced Zr-based metallic glass composite material,respectively,were used to penetrate the 30CrMnMo steel target plates in the penetration experiments.In the penetration process,the tungsten heavy alloy rod head formed as a mushroom head and the grains in the head were radially compressed.But in the head of the tungsten-fiber-reinforced Zr-based metallic glass composite rod,the failure along the adiabatic shear bands was observed,which indicated that the tungsten-fiber-reinforced penetrators took on self-sharpening behaviors.A thin edge layer was developed in the tungsten-fiber-reinforced penetrator head and only in this layer the metallic base was broken,the tungsten fibers were ruptured,the temperature increased and the mass was wasted.Evidently,the penetration ability of the tungsten-fiber-reinforced composite material penetrator is evidently greater than that of the tungsten alloy one.