Ballistic performance of spherical fragments penetrating PCrNi3MoV target plates

PCrNi3MoV steel is a medium-carbon, low-alloy quenched and tempered steel that finds its applications in military gun barrels due to the high wear resistance and ablation resistance. To study the penetration and failure modes of PCrNi3MoV plates impacted by tungsten spheres, tungsten spheres of various diameters (5 mm, 8 mm, and 10 mm) were used to impact PCrNi3MoV steel plates with thicknesses of 6 mm, 9 mm, and 14 mm. The penetration performance of the spheres was analyzed for different velocities, and the ultimate penetration velocity of the plate was obtained. It was found that the primary failure modes of the PCrNi3MoV plate were compression pitting failure and shear failure. Using the dimensional analysis method, a relationship between the bulge height of the steel plate and the fragment velocity, an equation for the ultimate penetration velocity, and a relationship between the target penetration energy and the fragment velocity were obtained. Then, a projectile–target action index was proposed to describe the process of tungsten spheres with different velocities impacting target plates. The results suggested that under the same thickness of the target plate, a larger-diameter fragment required more kinetic energy to obtain the same ultimate penetration effect as a smaller-diameter fragment. The equations obtained through dimensional analysis predicted values that agreed well with experimental values, indicating that these equations can be applied to engineering applications.