The most lethal option are rods made from depleted uranium. The earliest rods were made from plain steel, followed by plain steel with various configurations of tungsten tips or inserts. Originally posted by Major Hans:It's going to come down to velocity at impact, penetrator rod length, and material, more so than diameter. So if you tank is hit by a DU rod, you'll have that same white hot blast of rod material come flying in, but now it's on fire too. DU seems to have a certain benefit that helps with armor penetration, but the biggest advantage it has is that it likes to burn when it gets hot. If enough of the rod was still intact, you may also get long chunks of penetrator rod bouncing around in the tank, or if the armor was thin enough, you might even have the remainder of the rod exit the far side of the tank and do so with potentially enough energy to penetrate a second target. ![]() If the rod "wins", then a white hot shotgun blast of armor and rod material come flying into the tank. If the armor "wins", then either the rod will have been eroded to nothing, or have lost momentum and come to a stop inside a deep pit in the armor. When an APFSDS rod strikes armor, the rod and the armor essentially erode or vaporize each other, causing a tremendous amount of heat. A longer rod increases the maximum potential thickness of armor you can penetrate. A thinner rod concentrates impact forces on a smaller area of the armor. The rod itself is a much smaller diameter than the bore, and the trend has actually been to make rods longer and thinner. Another option is to reduce projectile mass. You can do any one of those things, or any combination. Increasing the maximum allowable chamber pressure, the bore diameter, and the barrel length (though this is not indefinite! Eventually more barrel length will REDUCE muzzle velocity!) will all give you greater velocity at the muzzle. The M68A1 added a slightly longer barrel, again, for more velocity. Guns before that production change are prohibited from firing the M900 APFSDS which produces higher chamber pressure for more velocity. ![]() The 105mm Royal Ordnance L7 / M68 was, at a certain point, given a stronger breech design. Velocity can be added in a few different ways and yes bore diameter is one way. It's going to come down to velocity at impact, penetrator rod length, and material, more so than diameter.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |