The application of titanium and titanium alloys in tanks has been widely reported in the United States, but rarely reported in China, the former Soviet Union, and Russia. In the 1990s, Abrams M1 battle tanks and Bradley M2 fighting vehicles in the United States used many titanium alloy parts to replace Rolled Homogeneous Armour (RHA).
Titanium alloy is said to have replaced seven steel components on the M1A2 main battle tank: the swivelling turret plate, the nuclear and biochemical warfare system shield plate, the gunner's main sight cover, the engine canopy, the turret pivot rack, the command hatch, and conductor thermal imaging viewer cover. The total weight of these components, which were made of steel and weighed 1,591kg, was reduced to 1,116kg by titanium alloy, a reduction of nearly 30 percent.
The command hatch and top attack armor of the M2 fighting vehicle were forged from aluminum alloy. Later, they were made from 100mm-127mm Ti-6Al-4V alloy plates, while the attack armor was made from 80mm thick titanium alloy plates, which are 35% lighter than steel. Ti-6Al-4V alloys are smelted in low-cost electron beam cold bed furnaces, and low-cost Ti-6Al-1.7Fe-0.1Si (Timetal 62S alloys) have also been developed.
In the 1950s, the United States made greater efforts on the application of titanium alloy in the ordnance industry with fruitful results. In order to reduce the quality of armored vehicles and improve their mobility flexibility and anti-projectile ability, Watertown Arsenal carried out a lot of tests on the anti-projectile and anti-armor capability and welding performance of titanium alloy. Titanium alloy is considered to be a strong armor material. For the same bulletproof performance, titanium alloy armor thickness should be 25% higher than steel, but titanium alloy armor weight is 25% lighter than steel.
In addition, Watertown Arsenal used Ti-6Al-4V alloy and Ti-6Al-4Mn alloy instead of steel to manufacture the driving shaft, suspension arm, tow bar, torque shaft, front axle, etc. The tank with Ti-6Al-4V alloy driving shaft was in good condition after a 9654km field test run.
The track system of T109 tank forged with Ti-6Al-4V alloy in this factory includes: track plate, fastening screw, center guide block, guide block edge, chain, etc. The titanium alloy track plate has better adhesion to rubber than steel and is about 40% lighter than steel. The titanium alloy track plate after surface treatment was carried out 1352km field test run on the medium tank, and the expected results were fully achieved.
