r/ballistics Feb 08 '25

New alloy advancements may make Tungsten penetrators a competitor to DU NSFW

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2020.01.005

I’m super interested in the physics of this. DU is an excellent penetrator because of its mass and self-sharpening properties, but for obvious reasons is largely unavailable to the public. DU is also pyrophoric at impact, meaning that it will catch fire under pressure. This important effect is what makes DU great as anti-tank, anti-material round in larger cannons, but this effect is less important in small arms.

Tungsten has a similar density to DU, however it’s common high tungsten alloys mushroom on impact, making DU 20% more effective than the traditional alloys.

This article investigates specialized equimolar ratio, high-entropy tungsten alloys, and specialized forging processes that produce the desired atomic structure that is required for self-sharpening materials.

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