MECHANICAL AND BALLISTIC TESTING OF TITANIUMDIBORIDE-TITANIUM COMPOSITES; A POSSIBLE COMPONENT IN GRADIENT MATERIAL ARMOUR

摘要

A promising armour concept for protection against high-performance small-calibre tungsten-carbide projectiles is to use functionally gradient ceramic-metallic materials (FGM). An FGM is a multi-phase material where the ceramic-metallic constituents vary gradually in a pre-determined way resulting in a material with continuously varying mechanical properties. In this paper, hardness, fracture toughness and protection capability for different titaniumdiboride-titanium composites, suitable as front layer in an FGM-armour, are investigated. The titanium content studied is in-between 1 and 10%. The mechanical properties and the protection performance are presented and the possibility of manufacturing an FGM based on titaniumdiboride and titanium is discussed.