Tank armor - science project

pyromanic13 · Tue Oct 24, 2006 8:29 pm

umm. how would you guys go about testing what makes good tank armor?

its a science project... keep that in mind so I still think I should shoot varies materials of differing thicknesses, with a hard metal slug of some weight shot at some speed.

is that vague enough?... could you help me fill in the blanks?

Check out my YouTube SpudGun Channel! · Wed Oct 25, 2006 2:26 am

yeah,thats why they slant the armor on most tanks especially ww2 german tanks.

edit:didnt see the 2nd page this is replying to benny's post

weirdwun · Wed Oct 25, 2006 10:12 am

i saw on mythbusters that water works well, but it would get extremely heavy. maybe have the armor slanted a little, so that the ammo would kind of have its momentum transefered in another direction, maybe? in that case, the strength of the armor wouldn't be so important.
Also:

POS wrote:Pyromanic13, since that is your name, are you planning to shoot a home made grenate with that ? Did that once, so I can imagine.

That is a 3rd degree felony, just so you know. i made sure to look up its legality before i tried it.

)DEMON( · Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:39 am

If you want a really good hard substance that is really easy to make then just get some wood pulp or fine saw dust and mix it with water. Once you have done that freeze it.

If done correctly it can be strong enough to stop bullets. It resists melting but keep it cool. It will be stronger than a lot of the substances you are trying.

Pete Zaria · Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:42 am

Demon, the stuff you're referring to is called Pykrete and it's been around for thousands of years. Here's a wiki link to it, including details on how to make it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pycrete .

It's almost as hard as lightweight concrete. Could make great ammo... Probably not so good for armor though.

Peace,
Pete Zaria.

POS · Wed Oct 25, 2006 12:52 pm

weirdwun wrote:
POS wrote:Pyromanic13, since that is your name, are you planning to shoot a home made grenate with that ? Did that once, so I can imagine.
That is a 3rd degree felony, just so you know. i made sure to look up its legality before i tried it.

Maybe I should make myself more clear. I mean a smoke grenate, not a explosive grenate. It was a project, just to try if it worked. And it did.

joannaardway · Wed Oct 25, 2006 1:05 pm

Anyway, I know a lot about tanks and anti-tank rounds, so I'll stop picking holes in this and make some suggestions.

A layered style of armour with a tough, but brittle layer, followed by a weak, but malleable layer, and repeated can be very strong, combining extremes of strength and malleability, which makes a very good energy dissipator.

POS · Wed Oct 25, 2006 1:14 pm

I like that pekrete link. Didn't know that ...

Check out my YouTube SpudGun Channel! · Wed Oct 25, 2006 1:39 pm

weirdwun wrote:maybe have the armor slanted a little, so that the ammo would kind of have its momentum transefered in another direction, maybe? in that case, the strength of the armor wouldn't be so important.

yeah thats what i said and it worked really well for the germans and the russians T-34 tanks but some shells could pentrate it and i think one of them was called a "shake charge" im not totally sure on what it exactly does but they seem very interessing and someone should look one up.

CpTn_lAw · Wed Oct 25, 2006 2:20 pm

normal weapons use very small expansion volume at the pressure peak. you should use a very small chamber at hyper hyper pressure. dont need to shoot a .8kg projectile, just find yourself a good lathe, work on some aluminium tubing, filled with lead. this would prevent the slug from ricocheting far and would improve the impact power. just get the projectile around 300grams, launched at 220m/s and see what it does...still, sand stops a .50 bullet, what disrupts the sand bag is the shock wave propagation of the bullet hitting the sand, so, you can calculate the energy:
a .50 caliber Ec= 0.5*0.012*1200*1200 = 8640 joules
your cannon Ec= 0.5*0.3*220*220 = 7260 joules you would get enough power with that trust me.....a .50 bullet can pierce a heavy armor at 1 mile of distance. for the comparaison

)DEMON( · Wed Oct 25, 2006 2:22 pm

Pete Zaria wrote:Demon, the stuff you're referring to is called Pykrete and it's been around for thousands of years.

Hmmm, pulling figures out your ass. It does not say anywhere on the sight that it has been around for thousands of years. They found the best use for it in World War two. Just a bit of exageration. I think I will try make some.

Pete Zaria · Wed Oct 25, 2006 2:26 pm

That site doesn't list it, but according to two different history books I have, Pykrete was invented back in the Viking days, around 900AD. They mixed wood pulp and/or sawdust with water and froze it to create weapons and even canoes.

I don't pull figures out of my ass. I'm a little too mature for that.

Peace,
Pete Zaria.

joannaardway · Wed Oct 25, 2006 2:28 pm

Perhaps, but, I somewhat doubt that the required freezing was available elsewhere thousands of years ago.

It might well make damned good ammunition if frozen to the right size though.

POS · Wed Oct 25, 2006 2:40 pm

CpTn_lAw wrote:.....a .50 bullet can pierce a heavy armor at 1 mile of distance. for the comparaison

Yes, but the bullet is made out of a steel pount, filled with lead. Not aluminium. Aluminium will not penetrate as much as steel, due to the fact steel keeps the point, alu don't.

POS · Wed Oct 25, 2006 2:42 pm

If not the right size, i gues you could form it easily with a file.