Sustainable Manufacturing and Foundry Practices
1Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
2National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India
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The pyro housings of the propulsion systems of three different anti-tank missiles were damaged during flight testing and received in damaged condition. Failure investigations were undertaken with the help of visual observation, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, hardness testing, glow discharge optical spectroscopy, and optical emission spectroscopy to assess the reason for the failure of these components. Results indicated that all pyro housings were made from Al alloy HF15 grade (24345) and used in T6 heat-treated condition. The pyro housing of one missile failed, as the groove was longer and had a higher angle of inclination. This makes the groove thinner with reduced load-bearing capacity. There was improper manufacturing by closed-die forging of the other two pyro housings. This resulted in elongated grains in certain directions and lower load-bearing capacities. There was no metallurgical deviation from the recommended material and composition.
Anti-tank missile, propulsion system, failure analysis, booster head
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