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Posted: 8/22/2001 4:37:18 PM EDT
I know that Ti is burley stuff, but will a 2mm-thick plate [u]shatter[/u] if hit with rifle rounds?  Or will it drill right through? Are there different qualities to Ti like steel and aluminum?

Someone please school me on the finer points of Ti composition.

[?]

Link Posted: 8/22/2001 5:37:12 PM EDT
[#1]
I have experimented on several pieces of high grade Titanium. These were destined for an F-14 but were ruined during drilling. I shot them with a variety of bullets, both pistol and rifle. The thinner sheet was slighty thicker than 2mm. 9mm's, .40's, and .45's wouldn't go through, .44's did. The bullets didn't make a clean hole, more like a tear similar to throwing a pencil at a sheet of paper.

With the thicker chunk of Ti, about 5/16", stood up to all calibers up to .223. There were dents but they didn't go through. The .308 went through but just barely, the jacket tore off and only the lead core penetrated. There were pieces of copper jackets all over the ground. Again, these were also like tears rather than holes.
Link Posted: 8/22/2001 6:47:45 PM EDT
[#2]
Time for me to buy some Kevlar and titanium plates to make a new suit!
Link Posted: 8/22/2001 7:13:31 PM EDT
[#3]
ya why do you want titanium it is weaker than steel

2mm steel beats 2mm titanium
Link Posted: 8/22/2001 7:26:51 PM EDT
[#4]

If you got to Information Resources section you will find all the data you want on just about every metal/alloy your heart could desire.

[url]www.steelforge.com/welcome.htm[/url]
Link Posted: 8/23/2001 12:37:34 AM EDT
[#5]
Quoted:
ya why do you want titanium it is weaker than steel

2mm steel beats 2mm titanium
View Quote


Yeah but it is [b]much[/b] heavier.

Sodie,  was that chunk of Ti for the F14 imbued with any magical properties, or was it just run-of-the-mill stuff?
Link Posted: 8/23/2001 12:48:27 AM EDT
[#6]
Sodie - ya got any pics of that test?  I'd like to see them...

IIRC - Titanium has steel beat for hardness by weight, but steel beats Titanium for ductility.  While Steel can be punched by high-speed impact, Titanium failures are closer to shattering.  Steel tends to yield to failure instead, or am I wrong?  I'm still working off of a 12th Edition Machinist's Handbook...

FFZ
[email protected]
Link Posted: 8/23/2001 9:50:49 AM EDT
[#7]
Quoted:
Sodie - ya got any pics of that test?  I'd like to see them...

IIRC - Titanium has steel beat for hardness by weight, but steel beats Titanium for ductility.  While Steel can be punched by high-speed impact, Titanium failures are closer to shattering.  Steel tends to yield to failure instead, or am I wrong?  I'm still working off of a 12th Edition Machinist's Handbook...

FFZ
[email protected]
View Quote


I believe you're thinking of aluminum.  At least what you described sounds like the attributes of aluminum.  Titanium should behave like steel and have the similar ductility traits.  In other words, unlike aluminum, it will rebound or have a catastrophic failure.
Link Posted: 8/23/2001 11:06:31 AM EDT
[#8]
I don't know if the Titanium was a special grade, my brother used to work for Northrup and occasionally brought home some ruined pieces with the drill bits still stuck in them. I do know that it was part of a F-14. He made some tools for the B2 stealth bomber, but everything concerning the B2 stayed at Northrup.

I guess Titanium is different than other metals in that if it is burned during drilling, it has to be thrown away or recycled. The pieces he brought home looked strange, the high speed drill bits looked like they were fused to the Ti. I left them in and used the broken bits to hold it into the dirt.

As for pictures, I threw away the thicker plate. It was like 10 years ago. I actually made a sculpture with the thinner plate. I used a dental mold/plaster cast of my mouth on the other side as if catching the bullets with my teeth. I think I threw that one away too. But I might have taken some pictures of it for my student art portfolio. If I find it, I'll post the sculpture with bullet ridden Ti plate.
Link Posted: 8/23/2001 12:27:22 PM EDT
[#9]
Ti is more flexible than steel, but softer.  It has a higher resistance to heat, and can be made to have no magnetic signature, like our EOD probes. Harder to machine than steel, it hardens to the point where cut.  It is corrosion resistant almost indefinitely.  It is also used in plates inside the human body because the body's immune system does not react to it.  The SR-71 Blackbird is made up all most entirely of titanium due to the heat resistance.

Suprising the things you learn when you want something machined out of it.  Getting some solid Ti pens made, and got interested.

Take it easy,
Ice

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