DEVELOPMENT OF A SCALABLE THERMOMECHANICAL PROCESS (TMP) FOR THICK BAINITIC ARMOR STEEL

A bainite phase-based alloy and associated thermomechanical process were developed to produce (2.5 to over 5 cm) thick armor-grade steel with uniform through-thickness high hardness and strength. The alloy composition and the final-critical (austenite to bainite) isothermal transformation step were specifically designed to utilize a simple and versatile air-cool/quench method to keep a low upfront capital cost and to provide the ability to continuously control the cooling rate in real time, in order to produce maximum volume fraction of bainite phase, and promote uniformly distributed strength and hardness. Final thickness of 1.9 cm and 5.7 cm steel plates were fabricated for characterization, testing and evaluation and found to possess uniform through-thickness hardness between 53 to 55 HRC and dynamic compressive strength of up to 2 GPa.