The use of titanium and titanium alloys in tanks has been widely reported in the United States, but not so much in China, the former Soviet Union and Russia. In the 1990s, the U.S. Abrams (Abrams) M1 main battle tanks and Bradley (Bradley) M2 combat vehicles used a number of titanium alloy parts to replace Rolled Homogeneous Armour (RHA).
It is said that the M1A2 main battle tank with titanium alloy to replace seven major steel parts: rotary turret plate, nuclear warfare, biological and chemical weapons countermeasures system plate, the gunner's main sight cover, the engine cover, turret pivot frame, the command module cover, the captain of the thermal imaging observer cover. The total mass of these components in steel was 1,591kg, which was reduced by nearly 30 per cent to 1,116kg when they were replaced with titanium alloys.
The command hatch cover and top attack armour of the M2 were originally forged from aluminium alloy, but were later changed to 100mm-127mm Ti-6Al-4V alloy plates, and the attack armour was made from 80mm thick titanium alloy plates, which were 35% lighter than the steel parts. Ti-6Al-4V alloy was melted in a low-cost electron-beam cold-bed furnace, and a low-cost Ti-6A-1.7 Fe-0.1Si Timetal 62S alloy, developed by Titanium Metals Corporation (Timetal).
In the 1950s, the United States of America on the application of titanium alloys in the arms industry put more effort, fruitful results, in order to reduce the quality of armoured vehicles, improve its mobility and flexibility and bullet resistance, Watertown (Watertown) Arsenal for titanium alloy resistance to gunfire and armour-piercing bullets, as well as a large number of tests on the welding properties of titanium alloys are considered to be a strong armour material. In the same bulletproof performance, titanium alloy armour thickness should be 25% higher than steel, while titanium alloy armour mass is 25% lighter than steel.
In 1953, the U.S. Army in Detroit (Detroit) Arsenal with a thickness of 15.88mm RC-130AW titanium alloy plate made of T55-type armoured car top armour to 37mm armour-piercing bullets for the test, the indexes are qualified to meet or exceed the predetermined value. 1956, the U.S. with the Ti-6Al-6V-2Sn-0.5Fe-0.5Cu alloy Forging tank tracks and tank load wheels, mounted on 50 tonnes of tanks through the 3378.9km field running test, good condition.
In 1950, the U.S. Watertown Arsenal with Ti-6Al-4V and Ti-4Al-4V alloy for the Tank Automotive Command's M-21 (XM-13) type command vehicle each welded a command tower, and with 20mm shells for live fire. Two speeds were used for the test firing, one at 450m/s, which did not penetrate, but a number of small cracks appeared on the back of the plate; the second was fired at 504m/s, which penetrated the titanium plate, but did not penetrate, and was stuck inside the plate, and the cracks did not expand. The results of the test firings were all satisfactory, the titanium turret having a mass of 177kg compared with 281kg for the steel turret, the former being 104kg, or 37 per cent, lighter than the latter.
In addition, Watertown Arsenal used Ti-6Al-4V alloy and Ti-6Al-4Mn alloy instead of steel to manufacture parts such as the main axle, suspension arm, tow bar, torsion axle, front wheel axle, etc. The tank with the main axle of Ti-6Al-4V alloy underwent a 9,654km field test run and was in good condition.
The track system of T109 tanks forged with Ti-6Al-4V alloy in this plant has: track plate, fastening screws, centre guide block, sides of the guide block and chain. Titanium track plates bond better to rubber than to steel and are approximately 40 per cent lighter than steel parts. The surface-treated titanium alloy track plate has been tested on a medium-sized tank for 1,352km in the field, and has fully achieved the expected results.
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