Experimental Research on New Grade of Steel Protective Material for Light Armored Vehicles

An investigation of new PROTAC 500 armour steel was conducted. Three plates were heat treated to different states. One was quenched, the second and third were quenched and low temperature tempered at 220 and 280 C for 3 hours. A tensile test, hardness measurements, and an instrumented Charpy test were performed. Metallographic was performed by optical microscopy (OM). Ballistic resistances of all three steel plates were measured. The behaviour of steel was tested using armour piercing projectiles 7.6239 mm API BZ (former soviet designation for Armor Piercing Incendiary bullet). The best results were obtained in quenched state.