Titanium

Factual Questions
1

How thick would a piece of titanium have to be to stop a round fired from a rifle at about 100m, say a 5.56 round?

2

Do you mean pure, elemental titanium, or titanium steel?

3

Which ever is strongest. But has to be light aswell.

4

Body armor.

That’s a “trauma plate”.

http://www.code4pro.com/searchresults.asp?reference=advanced&varCategory=2

http://www.code4pro.com/productdetails.asp?SKU=SC13-L

So, 1" will stop the aforementioned bullets. I’ll let the ballistics geeks take it from here. :smiley:

5

For the quick reply Duck Duck Goose.

I’ve seen the vests the police over here, the UK, use. But they tend to have, I think, ceramic inserts. I think they’re more designed to stop knife attacks rather than bullets.

6

On my quickie tour of body armor websites, I saw that the laminated Kevlar/fiber/resin, etc. vests are considered better for the guy wearing them, as metal trauma plates tend to deform inwards when the bullet hits, leading to severe bruising at the very least. Depends on the thickness of the plate and the caliber of the bullet, etc.

7

hmm well the police here used to have these vests with steel plates in them for protection against knives in a hostage situations and stuff , then this woman while negotiating thought it was too heavy took it off and subsequently was stabbed to death which made police demand lighter ceramic and kevlar with steel insert vests for bullet and knife protection , however when police in the UK are confronted by people with knives , or any other dangerous weapon like a gun they are trained to shoot in the upper chest area until you fall

8
      • I dunno the answer to the question, but I point out that most “common” Titanium alloys are somewhat lighter than steel but somewhat stronger than aluminum. There is steel available that is stronger than Titanium and Aluminum available that is lighter. (I am speaking of commonly-available metal stock- -exotic space shuttle/fighter-jet stuff might be better)
  • The main advantage of Titanium is that some alloys of it have large fatigue life (the ability to withstand repeated bending without cracking). Parts made from it must be carefully engineered to exploit this characteristic, though. One main use, for instance, is for hydraulic lines on large aircraft.
  • Titanium is available from suppliers online (Shapiro Supply, in my neighborhood), but not many really stock much of it because it’s difficult for builders to work with: it’s expensive (because it has to be electrically melted out of white beach sand), it is difficult to cut or drill mechanically and it requires special welding techniques with expensive equipment to join it well. It usually costs about nine times as much as 4130 steel. - MC
9

<geepee>however when police in the UK are confronted by people with knives , or any other dangerous weapon like a gun they are trained to shoot in the upper chest area until you fall</geepee>

Erm. UK- as in United Kingdom?
I want aware the police here carried firearms on routine patrol. and i wouldnt think a thug witha knife would wait around for the armed response team to show up.
Guy with a gun… possibly.
knife - nae chance.

Cant even rember what my point was now.

Oh well.

I love you all.

10

That sounds like alchemy to me…:wink:
Beach sand is silicon dioxide.

11

Hmm…they do seem to call it beach sand (rutile)…I’m confused (it’s not hard)…

12

Rutile? Wasn’t Eric Idle a Rutile?

Now I’m confused… :slight_smile:

13

To add to the confusion there is more than one kind of 5.56mm ammunition. The classic M855 is an ordinary FMJ boat tail bullet with lead core and gilding metal jacket weighing approx 55 grains. The new SS109 has a 62 grain bullet with a small steel tip in the core that helps armor penetration. FWIW the ATF excluded this ammunition from its definition of “armor piercing”

14

To clear-up the Ti ore questions, go here.

15

I think for our puposes here, we can just look at what is necessary to meet Threat-Level III (.308 Win) standards.

16

I’d just like to point out that titanium has a density of approximately 0.16 pounds per cubic inch. A 7in X 10in X 1in thick plate would weigh more than 11 pounds, not 8 oz as quoted above. The 1in thickness must be made up of a composite of titanium plus other materials.

Other approximate densities (exact density depends on alloy):

Aluminum: 0.10 lb per cubic inch
Steel: 0.28 lb per cubic inch
Lead: 0.40 lb per cubic inch
Depleted uranium: 0.66 lb per cubic inch
Kevlar fiber: 0.05 lb per cubic inch (roughly)