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Abstract
Tungsten heavy alloys (WHA) such as W–Ni–Cu and W–Ni–Fe are usually used as kinetic energy penetrators (KEP). However, the amount of penetration of these alloys is not sufficient due to their mushrooming effect that occurs as they impact their targets. On the other hand, KEP made of depleted uranium (DU) in spite of their excellent penetrating properties are not a very good substitute for WHA due to their environmental problems. Therefore, in order to increase the penetration depth of WHA penetrators, a new brand of WHA namely W–Ni–Mn alloys have been developed. The present paper deals with the microstructural improvement of such an alloy system, so that it can provide a potential candidate material to be used as KEP, having sufficient penetration depth. For developing this material, various ratios of Mn/Ni powder were mixed with 90 wt-% pure tungsten powder before compaction and sintering in order to investigate the amount of solubility of W in Ni–Mn matrix. In addition to study the effect of this ratio on the re precipitation and growth of W particles within the matrix after being subjected to sintering process, the results of the present study indicated that the grain refinement of W grains is possible by addition of Mn to W–Ni heavy alloys, so that the higher the amount of Mn/Ni ratio up to certain amount, the smaller will become the W grain size after sintering process. Worth mentioning that according to the results obtained by other researchers for WHA penetrators, the finer W grain size, the deeper the penetration of KEP would be. In addition, the results of the present study show that by selecting a suitable sintering cycle, one may obtain a dense microstructure having a density of ∼100%, i.e. 99·6%.