ABSTRACT
Fractographical examinations present a good relationship between fracture surface
topography and basic rupture mechanism. Fracture consists of crack formation (crack
nucleation) and crack growth (crack propagation). Many parametres such as type of
loading, sensitivity of materials to crack play an important role on failure. Fracture in
engineering alloys can occur by a transgranular (through the grains) or an intergranular
(along the grain boundaries) fracture path.
In this study newly developed boron added armor steel has been rolled to form sheet
product. Heat treatment series including austenitization, quenching and then tempering
have been applied on boron added armor steel respectively. The effects of formed
microstructures on mechanical properties have been studied extensively. Furthermore
failure mechanism has been determined through fractografical examinations by using
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). due to its high resolution. In general SEM
examinations are an important part of failure analysis.
Failure analysis and type of fracture provide also a good approach to understand the
ballistic behaviour of armor steel. When the material is exposed to any kind of impact
loading as performed by kinetic penetrator etc., it is obvious that the failure mode will
give information about its ballistic performance.