Enhancement of ballistic capabilities of soft welds through hardfacing

An attempt has been made to improve the ballistic immunity of austenitic we lds through a hardfacing technique by a shielded metal are welding process. Welds with complete hardfacing shattered under ballistic impact. An overla y of hardfacing alloy over austenitic weld disintegrated due to extensive c racking in the hardfacing layer. Sandwiching of the hardfacing alloy weld b etween austenitic welds served the dual purpose of weld integrity and balli stic immunity due to the high hardness of hardfacing alloy and the energy a bsorbing capacity of austenitic weld deposit. However, for full ballistic i mmunity equivalent to the base metal a minimum thickness of hardfacing weld layer was found to be essential. The observed trends are explained on the basis of microstructural features and cracking behaviour in the hardfacing alloy. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.