A Prospective Way to Achieve Ballistic Impact Resistance of Lightweight Magnesium Alloys

Abstract

The ballistic impact resistance of lightweight magnesium alloys is an eye-catching material for the military and aerospace industries, which can decrease the cost of a project and the fuel consumption. The shockwave mitigation ability of a magnesium alloy is 100 times stronger than an aluminum alloy; nonetheless, ballistic impact resistance has still not been achieved against blunt and API projectiles. The major obstacles are the low hardness, low mechanical strength, basal texture and strain hardening ability under loading along the normal direction of the sheet. The high yield strength and ultimate strength can be achieved for a specific loading condition (tensile or compression) by adjusting the texture in magnesium alloys. The projectile impact along the normal direction in a strong basal-textured magnesium alloy can only produce a slip-induced deformation or minor twinning activity. Here, we propose a practical technique that can be valuable for altering the texture from c-axes//ND to c-axes//ED or TD, and can produce high strain hardening and high strength through a twinning and de-twinning activity. Subsequently, it can improve the ballistic impact resistance of magnesium alloys. The effect of the technique on the evolution of the microstructure and possible anticipated deformation mechanisms after ballistic impact is proposed and discussed.