The Difference Between Tungsten Alloy Armor Piercing Projectile and Depleted Uranium Armor Piercing Projectile

The main difference between Tungsten Alloy Armor Piercing Projectile and Depleted Uranium Armor piercing Projectile lies in the different core materials. The former uses tungsten alloy, which obtains huge initial kinetic energy to penetrate armor to destroy the target under the action of high temperature and high pressure gas in the bore, while the latter uses depleted uranium alloy (the content of uranium 235 is less than 0.711%), which produces large impact force and high temperature of uranium combustion to destroy the target when penetrating armor. Because of the different materials, the performance of armor piercing projectiles made by them is also different.

1.The Density is Different

It is reported that the density of tungsten alloy armor piercing projectile in Germany is 17.1g/cm3, and that of depleted uranium alloy is 18.6g/cm3, both of which are relatively high, but a slight difference will also affect the stiffness and speed of armor piercing projectile.

2. The Armor Piercing Power is Different at Different Target Speeds

The landing speed of 2000m /s is a watershed. Below 2000m/s, the power of depleted uranium armor piercing projectile is higher than that of tungsten alloy, and the armor piercing power of tungsten alloy and depleted uranium alloy warhead is almost the same.

3. Self-Sharpening is Different

Generally speaking, under the same conditions, the penetration ability of depleted uranium alloy is 10-15% higher than that of tungsten alloy, which is due to the low critical adiabatic shear strain rate of depleted uranium alloy material and easy adiabatic shear fracture, that is, "self-sharpening" effect. However, in the process of tungsten alloy piercing, the piercing head will be "self-blunt", which will increase the penetration resistance and reduce the penetration depth. It can be seen from the figure that under the condition of the same core diameter, the diameter of depleted uranium alloy piercing channel is the smallest, and the piercing resistance is the smallest.

4. Different Environmental Performance

When depleted uranium burns, it will form pale yellow smoke-like sodium oxide dust, which will cause radioactive pollution to the surrounding environment, and its harm is no less than that after the atomic bomb explosion. For example, "Gulf War Syndrome" and "Kosovo War Syndrome" are the sequela of American use of depleted uranium bombs, which has affected local generations.

Considering environmental protection, abundant tungsten reserves and humanitarianism, tungsten alloy is used as the main material of armor piercing projectile core in China. Compared with depleted uranium, tungsten alloy is called green bullet because of its non-toxic and non-radioactive pollution.

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