A new departure, therefore, had to be made, and forged steel rounds with points hardened by water took the place of the Palliser shot. These chilled iron shots proved very effective against wrought iron armor but were not serviceable against compound and steel armor, which was first introduced in the 1880s. By casting the projectile point downwards and forming the head in an iron mold, the hot metal was suddenly chilled and became intensely hard (resistant to deformation through a Martensite phase transformation), while the remainder of the mold, being formed of sand, allowed the metal to cool slowly and the body of the shot to be made tough (resistant to shattering). Palliser, who, with the Palliser shot, invented a method of hardening the head of the pointed cast-iron shot. The first solution to this problem was effected by Major Sir W. This armor was practically immune to both the round cast-iron cannonballs then in use and to the recently developed explosive shell. The late 1850s saw the development of the ironclad warship, which carried wrought iron armor of considerable thickness. Steel plates penetrated in tests by naval artillery, 1867 Accordingly reference sources vary in whether they include or exclude them. Whether these modern designs are considered to be AP rounds depends on the definition.
Instead, the penetrator is a long rod of dense material like tungsten or depleted uranium (DU) that further improves the terminal ballistics. Designs using newer technologies no longer look like the classic artillery shell and have displaced it. These lightweight shells were fired at very high muzzle velocity and retained that speed and the associated penetrating power over longer distances. In the anti-vehicle role, as tank armor improved during World War II newer designs began to use a smaller but dense penetrating body within a larger shell. From the 1920s onwards, armor-piercing weapons were required for anti-tank missions.ĪP rounds smaller than 20 mm are intended for lightly-armored targets such as body armor, bulletproof glass and light armored vehicles.
įrom the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armor-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armor carried on many warships and cause damage to the lightly-armored interior. Bourrelet (front) and driving band (rear)Īrmor-piercing ammunition ( AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate either body armor or vehicle armor. Fuse (set with delay to explode inside the target) 5.
Desensitized bursting charge ( TNT, Trinitrophenol, RDX.) 4.
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