Hypervelocity penetration behavior and fireball radiation characteristics of tungsten-zirconium reactive projectile

Reactive damage elements has the dual properties of kinetic energy penetration and strong combustion/explosion and thus enhanced damage ability potentially. At present, research on the damage characteristics of reactive projectile is mostly limited to the velocity of projectile impacting target below 2km/s, and there are few reports on hypervelocity impact. The damage ability of high-density and high-strength tungsten-zirconium (W/Zr) alloy projectiles is enhanced in hypervelocity impact, because the degree of material being fragmented is high, the particle size is small, and the flying speed of particles is fast, which are all conducive to the combustion of reactive components to form continuous high-temperature fireballs. In order to investigate the hypervelocity penetration behavior of W/Zr reactive projectile and the radiation characteristics of fireball, the failure characteristics of W/Zr reactive projectile impacting titanium alloy plate with velocities of 1.842-4.039km/s were obtained by hypervelocity impact test. The effects of projectile impact velocity and ambient gas pressure on the combustion characteristics of impact fireball are analyzed. The evolution characteristics of equivalent radiation temperature and equivalent radiation area are obtained by fitting experimental data. The effects of environmental gas on radiation characteristics under different impact conditions are identified and analyzed.

Automated summary

This study investigates the hypervelocity penetration behavior of W/Zr reactive projectiles and the radiation characteristics of fireballs. It is found that high-density and high-strength tungsten-zirconium alloy enhances the damage ability in hypervelocity impacts. Additionally, the ambient gas pressure and projectile impact velocity have an impact on the combustion characteristics of the fireball.