According to foreign media reports, recently, two foreign additive manufacturing (3D printing) companies jointly launched a tungsten alloy armor-piercing bomb made using the latest 3D printing technology. Compared with the tungsten alloy armor-piercing bombs made using traditional processes, their armor-piercing capabilities have been greatly improved, mainly facing the needs of military applications in high-speed impact scenarios.

  3D printing brings new ideas

  Armor-piercing bombs are the main type of armored combat vehicles such as tanks. During combat, they rely on the powerful kinetic energy of the projectile to penetrate the target and destroy it. They are considered to be the "nemesis" of ground armored vehicles and are also the focus of military industry and scientific research in various countries. With its extremely high melting point and density and excellent high temperature hardness characteristics, metal tungsten has become an ideal material for armor-piercing bombs. The tungsten alloy armor-piercing bombs that are widely used currently have the advantages of high density and strong armor-piercing capabilities. The core of the bullet is made of pure tungsten or tungsten alloy. However, these excellent properties of metal tungsten also bring great challenges to the manufacturing of tungsten alloy armor-piercing bombs. It is difficult to achieve efficient processing using traditional processes, and temperature changes in production may lead to the risk of brittle fracture. This series of problems has made the manufacturing of tungsten alloy armor-piercing bombs a project with extremely high technical barriers and high production costs. The rapid development of 3D printing technology has brought new methods and ideas to the manufacturing of tungsten alloy armor-piercing bombs.

  3D printing technology, also known as additive manufacturing technology, has been widely used in the field of military equipment manufacturing in recent years. Among them, electron beam powder bed melting technology is the most advanced one in 3D printing technology. This technology uses high-energy electron beams as heat source and metal powder as raw material. It uses electron beams to melt metal powder layer by layer in a vacuum environment, and then forms solid parts by stacking them layer by layer. This printing process can accurately control the structural accuracy of the parts and can also manufacture parts with complex internal structures on demand. The tungsten alloy armor-piercing bombs manufactured using this 3D printing technology not only have a weight of 15% lower than that of traditional tungsten alloy armor-piercing bombs, but also the mass distribution of the bullet core is optimized, which can reduce flight drag. Tests show that at the initial velocity of 2000 meters/s, the thickness of penetrating homogeneous steel armor is increased by 15% compared with traditional armor-piercing bombs, and the integrity rate of the core wreckage of the bullet is increased by nearly 30%.

  More outstanding armor-piercing performance

  On the modern battlefield, the composite armor, reactive armor and active defense systems of the main battle tanks have increased the difficulty of armor-piercing bombs. In high-speed impact scenarios, armor-piercing bombs need to concentrate kinetic energy in a very short time, break through multi-layer protection and maintain the integrity of the structure. The performance advantages of 3D-printed tungsten alloy armor-piercing bombs are particularly outstanding in this scenario.

  More lethality. The material density of tungsten alloy is 2.5 times that of steel, which means that under the same conditions, the mass of the tungsten alloy warhead is greater and the kinetic energy is greater. In addition, the core internal structure of the 3D-printed tungsten alloy armor-piercing bomb has been optimized, with a hardness of nearly 30%, and a stronger resistance to fracture. It can maintain integrity and penetrate multi-layer armor under high-speed impact. The shooting range test results show that under the shooting conditions of the same specifications, the 3D-printed tungsten alloy armor-piercing bomb has a flight speed of nearly 10% faster than the traditional armor-piercing bomb at a distance of 2,000 meters, and the fragmented clouds formed after penetration are more concentrated, and the secondary damage effect is more obvious.

  Resistant to high temperature and deformation. During high-speed impact, the maximum temperature at the front end of the armor-piercing projectile is thousands of degrees Celsius, which is enough to melt other materials. The melting point of metal tungsten is as high as 3422 degrees Celsius, and the dense lattice structure formed by 3D printing technology can effectively suppress plastic deformation at high temperatures. Tests show that the deformation of the 3D-printed tungsten alloy armor-piercing bomb is less than 1 mm under high-speed impact, while the deformation of the traditional tungsten alloy armor-piercing bomb is 3 to 5 mm. The smaller the deformation of the projectile body, the higher the penetration stability, which can meet the tactical needs of continuously penetrating three layers of spaced armor.

  More invasive. Modern composite armor usually adopts a "soft-hard-soft" multi-layer structure, and traditional tungsten alloy armor-piercing bombs are easily "stuck" in the middle layer. The 3D-printed tungsten alloy armor-piercing bomb is designed with the "self-sharp" design at the front end of the warhead, which can automatically remove the front end passivation surface during impact, maintaining the sharp shape of the front end of the warhead. In addition, the cavity structure inside the bullet body can guide the shock wave to diffuse into the armor to avoid premature breakage of the bullet body. This design makes it more penetrating to the composite armor and reduces the probability of "jumping".

  Wide range of combat applications

  3D printed tungsten alloy armor-piercing bombs are suitable for high-speed impact combat scenarios and improve the tank's anti-armor combat capabilities. In addition, it can also appear in special operations and precision strike operations. The structural accuracy and customizable printing characteristics of 3D printed tungsten alloy armor-piercing bombs make them very suitable for special operations and precise strike tasks.

  In the future, as 3D printing technology continues to mature and improve, and new materials and new processes emerge, 3D printed tungsten alloy armor-piercing bombs will soon move from the laboratory to the battlefield and become the "armor-piercing spear" on the battlefield. At the same time, 3D printing technology will also be widely used in aerospace manufacturing, military logistics support and other fields, becoming an important driving force for intelligent military equipment manufacturing.

[Editor in charge: Gao Qiang]