TITANIUM ROAD WHEELS: A COST-EFFECTIVE LOW-RISK ALTERNATIVE FOR LEGACY AND NEXT GENERATION COMBAT VEHICLES

The U.S. Army identified the use of advanced materials in next generation combat vehicles design as a focal technology area of interest and urged industry to develop replacements that realize weight, sustainment, and cost savings. An initial life cycle analysis suggests that using Titanium road wheels as an alternative to legacy road wheels could cut 555.6 lbs. and reduce cost by $39,760.00 per each M-1 tank over a life cycle of 8,000 mi, resulting with $71.72 savings per each pound reduced. Secondary side-effects of the weight reduction achieved by the Titanium road wheels include improvements such as fuel economy, mobility, transportability, and risk-reduction in the inclusion of emerging metal matrix composite technologies in next generation combat vehicles. The paper recommends conducting field evaluation and considering the application of Titanium road wheels in the M-1/M-88, M-109, AMPV, MPF, OMFV, DLP/FDL, and RCV (H) platforms

Citation: R. Paytan, R. Mazor, “Titanium Road wheels: A Cost-Effective Low-Risk Alternative for Legacy and Next Generation Combat Vehicles”, In Proceedings of the Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium (GVSETS), NDIA, Novi, MI, Aug. 13-15, 2019.