Journal of Wuhan University of Technology-Mater. Sci. Ed. Dec.

2012 1133

DOI 10.1007/s11595-012-0616-y

Sintering Effect on the Performance of

Tungsten-copper Powder Liner

GAO Yonghong 1,2 , GU Xiaohui1, LIU Tiansheng2

(1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094, China; 2. School of Chemical
Engineering and Environment, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China)

Abstract: In order to study the properties of high-temperature sintered tungsten-copper powder shaped
charge liner, the tungsten powder and copper powder, whose particle size is below 20 μm, were chosen as
the main material. The mixed powder were directly pressed into the desired shape of the charge liner by the
top direct-pressure way. The microscopic morphology of the spinning shaped charge liner, and the particle
properties of the copper and tungsten powder were studied with scanning electron microscopy. The experimental
results showed that the irregular copper powder and regular tungsten powder both are effectively and high-
temperature sintering, which can improve the compactness of the powder liner effectively. The wall thickness
and density of the no sintered and sintered liner were tested, showing that sintering thinned down the wall
thickness and improved the density. The penetration depth of no sintered powder liner, sintered powder liner
and the spinning copper plate liner were respectively tested in different standoff, showing that the penetration
properties of sintered powder liner are well.
Key words: powder material; sintering; microstructure; penetration effect

1 Introduction μm had the best characteristics. The increase of the

The shaped charges have widely applied in the
modern ammunition and certain industries, e g, oil,
mining, geology, etc[1]. The liner, as a major component
of the shaped charge, is usually determined the overall
properties of the shaped charge. In fact, its basic shape
and characteristics have been basically mature. The
main research about it focus on the development of
new materials and the improvement of the materials
properties. The researches on copper shaped charge
liner have shown that the purity and close-grained
microstructure of the material are most important[2,3].
The impurities have unprofitable effect on shape charge
jet formation. They will separate into the form of a
brittle phase on grain boundaries and worsen ductility
of the material. Microstructure of the material has
played an important influence on the jet formation
as well [4,5] . The jets formed from liners with the
grains size of microstructure in range of about 20-30
©Wuhan University of Technology and SpringerVerlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012
(Received: Apr. 19, 2012; Accepted: June 8, 2012)
GAO Yonghong(高永宏): Ph D; E-mail: gyh54gyh@163.com
Funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(11072222)
grains worsened the properties of the shaped charges.
Application of the close-grained material for liners can
meet the requirement of the statistic homogeneity of
the material properties. It allows to formation of the
jet with regular shape. However, the fabrication of the
high purity metal and close-grained microstructure is
difficult.
Modern powder metallurgy technology provides
technical support for the development of high purity
and density of metallic materials. In this paper, the
tungsten-copper powder was directly pressed into
an appropriate shape of the liner. Its properties were
studied through sintering.
2 Experimental
2.1 Material selection
In the previous research and development process
of liner materials, copper, low carbon ductile iron, zinc,
aluminum, lead, tin, nickel and heavy metal tantalum,
tungsten, uranium, molybdenum, and so on and their
alloys have been selected and studied [6-9]. Copper,
with the excellent overall performance such as good
plasticity, high density and sound velocity, became the
traditional shaped charge liner materials. Therefore,
1134 Vol.27 No.6 GAO Yonghong et al: Sintering Effect on the Performance of Tungsten-co...
copper powder was chosen firstly after the emergence
of the shaped charge liner of the powder metallurgy.
As well as to improve the material limitations of
copper powder liner, the powder alloy liner of several
materials was studied. The powders that are commonly
used in powder liner are including copper, tungsten,
molybdenum, bismuth, tin, tantalum, etc, and their
corresponding characteristics are shown in Table 1[10-13].
There are more slip systems and higher dynamic
toughness in the BCC (Body-centered cubic) and
FCC(Face-centered cubic) metals than the hexagonal
metals. Tungsten becomes an ideal liner material
because of its high-density, moderate speed of sound
and some other excellent performances. Molybdenum
with hypersonic and high-density characteristics is a
candidate liner material for formatting the high head
speed and penetration power of the shaped charge jet.
Bismuth, with a low melting point, attracts the attention
of the people as additives in the powder liner. Tin is
also due to the low melting point, and not directly to
preparation liner. In order to maintain the continuity
of the metal jet and reduce pestle blocking, there must
add some tin and bismuth in to the powder materials.
Tantalum, with high density and good dynamic
ductility, is used to make explosively formed projectile
shaped charge liner as a new type of liner material.
By this analysis, tungsten powder and copper
powder were chosen as the main material. In order to
increase the flow ability of the powder material, a small
amount of graphite and oil were added. The scanning
electron microscope images of the tungsten powder and
copper powder are shown in Fig.1.
As can be seen from Fig.1, the copper powder
has poor uniformity particles, large particle size
distribution span and irregular shape. While the
tungsten powder particles are relatively uniformity and
its shape is regular. The difference of them can cause
them mosaic easily and help to improve the uniformity
of distribution of the powder material.
2.2 Preparation of samples
As we all know, the shape accuracy of the sample
depends on the development of accuracy and process
parameters. In order to obtain the ideal symmetry,
thickness, and the local density of sample, the top
direct pressure method was used to obtain small-angle
variable wall thickness of the powder sample. The
specific components are given in Table 2.
Related experiments show that reducing the
particle size of the powder material can help to improve
the overall performance of the sample, so the particle
size of tungsten powder and copper powder below 20
μm was chosen as main material. Because the mobility
of the small particle powder was worse, graphite and
oil were added to improve the fluidity and viscous of
the powder material.
2.3 Sintering
By fixed sintering device, high temperature
sintering was completed in a protective gas. The change
curve of sintering temperature over time is shown in
Fig.2.