Ukraine has mastered the production of their own titanium armor

In Ukraine, they have mastered the production of their own titanium armor and are going to use this lightweight and durable metal in the production of the latest body armor.

Transmitted by National Industrial Portal, citing Defense Express.

Yury Yevtushenko, the head and founder of Temp-3000 NPP LLC, said this in an interview during the Arms and Security-2019 exhibition.

    “We are now showing Ukrainian production of a silicon carbide plate with a titanium backing. The Russians have a titanium impact strength of 600 Joules. Here we have titanium Ukrainian - impact strength 1400 J / cm². We have obtained the result that the weight of the silicon carbide plate in combination with titanium is the same as that of aluminum oxide, but the reliability is higher, ”Yuriy Yevtushenko noted.

According to him, in the test firing, a new domestic plate withstood the hit with a sniper rifle of the SVD with a B-32 (7.62x54) caliber ammunition bullet from a distance of 10 meters.

It is quite possible to further increase the protection.

    "Here (on the plate) is a titanium substrate 3-4 mm. Increasing its thickness to 6-7 mm, we have already armored caliber 12.7 mm. That is, with titanium weight 3.3-3.4 kg plate for 6 class (body armor). If we want to raise it to armor-piercing 12.7, another 900 grams of weight will be added. It will be 4.3 kilograms of weight, ”said the head of the Ukrainian enterprise.

However, he noted that in the presence of titanium plates of their own production, their cost will be slightly different from the price of similar plates of other materials (for example, from a bulletproof vest class 6 with plastic plates). Because Ukraine has its own large deposits and production of this raw material.

    “We are ready to make titanium bulletproof vests now. We are now saying that we will produce these products together with two Institutes of Ukraine - the Institute of Materials Science (IM Frantsevich Institute of Materials Science, NASU) and the Paton Institute (EO Paton Electric Welding Institute), ”- said the founder. Temp-3000 ».

According to Yuriy Yevtushenko, the capacity currently available in Ukraine is sufficient to produce the required number of new body armor.

    "The main thing we tried, we got the result. On Ukrainian territory. That is, we have the technology. We need to develop further. Because ceramics (for the production of armor plates), too, are not purchased on such an excessive scale. We have an installation, we can produce as many as 2,000 plates a month, that's about a thousand bulletproof vests, ”he said.

However, for the possible use of Ukrainian titanium in the production of hulls for armored vehicles or combat aviation requires some investment and capacity expansion. In this case, the head of "Temp-3000" reported that the representatives of the production of machinery have shown interest in titanium products.

    "Here we were approached by aviation planners, and we say that we can book this way (from a caliber of 12.7 mm)," Yuriy Yevtushenko said.

    “There is no protection for such a large caliber (12.7 mm) for humans. But, in the aviation industry is already provided. Reservation of equipment from 12.7, stop the equipment exactly caliber 12.7 armored, already provided. That is why we say that the combination of titanium and silicon carbide increases the level of protection, ”he emphasized.

It should be added that in Ukraine, until recently, no parts were made of titanium, especially armor made of titanium. Despite the huge reserves of this strategic raw material (at the time of the collapse of the USSR all the deposits where the titanium was extracted were only in Ukraine) all production of finished and very expensive product was concentrated in the Russian Federation, and our country was only a cheap supplier of raw materials and, oddly enough, some samples of equipment for production of titanium parts. That is, having its own cheap raw materials and even even its own equipment, ready-made parts at great cost (the main consumer of titanium is rocket and aircraft) our country bought abroad.