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Which parts of a tank can be made of titanium alloy

There are many reports on the application of titanium and titanium alloys in tanks in the United States, but there are few reports on this in China, the former Soviet Union, and Russia. In the 1990s, the Abrams M1 main battle tank and Bradley M2 tank in the United States used many titanium alloy components to replace the Rolled Homogeneous Armor (RHA).
It is reported that titanium alloy has replaced seven major steel components on the M1A2 main battle tank: turret plate, nuclear warfare, biochemical weapon countermeasure system shield, gunner's main sight cover, engine cover, turret pivot frame, command hatch cover, and commander's thermal imaging observation cover. The total weight of these components made of steel was 1591kg. After being changed to titanium alloy, the total weight decreased to 1116kg, reducing by nearly 30%.
The command hatch cover and top attack armor of the M2 tank were originally forged with aluminum alloy, but were later made of 100mm-127mm Ti-6Al-4V alloy plate. The attack armor was made of 80mm thick titanium alloy plate, which is 35% lighter in weight than steel parts. Ti-6Al-4V alloy was melted in a low-cost electron beam cold bed furnace, and a low-cost Ti-6A-1.7Fe-0.1Si Timetal 62S alloy was developed by Titanium Metal Company (Timetal).
In the 1950s, the United States made greater efforts in the application of titanium alloys in the weapons industry, achieving fruitful results. In order to reduce the weight of armored vehicles, improve their maneuverability and resistance to bullets, the Watertown Arsenal conducted a large number of tests on the resistance of titanium alloys to bullets, armor piercing bullets, and welding performance, believing that titanium alloys are a strong armor material. When the same bulletproof performance is achieved, the thickness of titanium alloy armor should be 25% higher than that of steel, while the weight of titanium alloy armor is 25% lighter than that of steel.
In 1953, the US Army conducted a 37mm armor piercing test on the top armor of the T55 armored vehicle made of 15.88mm RC-130AW titanium alloy plate at the Detroit Arsenal. All indicators met or exceeded the predetermined values. In 1956, the United States forged tank tracks and load-bearing wheels made of Ti-6Al-6V-2Sn-0.5Fe-0.5Cu alloy and installed them on a 50 ton tank. They passed a 3378.9km field test and were in good condition.
In 1950, the Watertown Arsenal in the United States used Ti-6Al-4V and Ti-4Al-4V alloys to weld a command tower to each of the M-21 (XM-13) command vehicles of the Tank Car Command, and conducted live fire with 20mm shells. The test shot was conducted at two speeds, one at 450m/s and did not penetrate, but there were many small cracks on the back of the board; The second shooting speed is 504m/s, penetrating the titanium plate but not penetrating, getting stuck inside the plate, and the crack does not expand. The test results were satisfactory, with a titanium alloy turret weighing 177kg and a steel turret weighing 281kg. The former is 104kg lighter than the latter, or 37% lighter.
In addition, the Watertown Arsenal also used Ti-6Al-4V alloy and Ti-6Al-4Mn alloy instead of steel to manufacture parts such as drive shafts, suspension arms, tow bars, torque shafts, front wheel axles, etc. The tank with Ti-6Al-4V alloy as the drive shaft underwent a 9654km field test run and was in good condition.
The track system of the T109 tank forged with Ti-6Al-4V alloy in the factory includes: track shoes, fastening screws, center guide blocks, edges of guide blocks, chains, etc. The adhesion between titanium alloy track shoes and rubber is better than that with steel, and the weight is about 40% lighter than that of steel parts. After surface treatment, titanium alloy track plates were subjected to a 1352km field test run on medium-sized tanks, fully achieving the expected results.

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