Armored Vehicle Protective Element with Post-Weld Hot Forming
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing protective elements for motor vehicles, formed from individual profiles, face challenges in maintaining protective action due to weakening from bending radii and heat-affected zones during welding, which compromise the vehicle's ability to withstand ballistic attacks and detonations.
Innovation Solution
A method involving welding individual profiles with strategically placed weld seams, followed by heating above the austenitizing temperature and hot-forming to create sharp edges without bending radii, and subsequent quenching and tempering to enhance strike resistance and maintain hardness across the protective element.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If individual profiles are welded together to form protective elements, then the protective element can be assembled from multiple components, but the heat-affected zone during welding reduces hardness and strike resistance in the weld seam region
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies post-weld heat treatment parameters (heating to austenitizing temperature followed by cooling) to transform the microstructure of the weld seam and heat-affected zone. This parameter change restores and enhances the hardness and strike resistance of the welded regions, resolving the contradiction between ease of assembly and strength preservation.
2Shape
If bending is used to form protective elements from flat plates, then the protective element can be shaped to required geometry, but bending radii reduce material thickness and create weak points that compromise protective function
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs shaping of individual profiles before welding, rather than bending the final assembled structure. This preliminary action allows each profile to be formed independently with optimized geometry, avoiding the creation of weak bending radii in the final protective element while maintaining the required shape.
3Strength
If protection steel is hardened to provide strike resistance, then the protective element gains protective action, but the high hardness limits forming capability and causes loss of hardness in weld seams
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs all forming operations on individual profiles while they are in their soft, formable state before hardening. After shaping and welding, the entire assembly undergoes hardening as a final step. This preliminary action sequence preserves forming capability during manufacturing while achieving the desired strike resistance in the finished product.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The method produces a protective element with improved strike resistance and uniform hardness, reducing the likelihood of projectile penetration and enhancing the vehicle's defensive capabilities against ballistic threats without material weakening.
Implementation Method 1
heating the preform to a temperature which is higher than an austenitizing temperature of the steel alloy
Implementation Method 2
hardening the protective element in the hot-forming mold
Data Source
AI summary
A method for producing a protective element which is formed of individual profiles for armoring a motor vehicle. The method includes providing the individual profiles from a same steel alloy or from different steel alloys, welding the individual profiles to provide a preform, heating the preform to a temperature which is higher than an austenitizing temperature of the steel alloy or, if the individual profiles are provided from different steel alloys, to a temperature of the steel alloy having a highest austenitizing temperature, inserting the preform into a hot-forming mold, subjecting the preform to a final shaping in the hot-forming mold to provide the protective element, and hardening the protective element in the hot-forming mold. The welding is performed with a formation of at least two weld seams. A first weld seam is thereby located further away from a strike-facing side of the individual profiles than a second well seam.