High Nitrogen Steel (HNS) for Armour Applications

High Nitrogen Steel (HNS) is possesses excellent mechanical and ballistic properties. It is an ideal material for armour applications and due to its low cost can be used for civilian applications as well as for export also.DMRL has developed a nickel free high nitrogen steel by refining the thermo‐mechanical processing to get better mechanical properties. The ballistic performance tests carried out against small arms projectiles have established that the steel is suitable for use as armour material for futuristic protective applications.

Salient Features

• HNS provides improved ballistic (especially against small arms ammunitions) and blast protection than the existing Rolled Homogeneous Armour (RHA) material with reduced thickness
• Good corrosion resistance
• Austenitic stainless steel, non‐magnetic
• Performance improvement: 30% to 35% compared to RHA steel against soft projectiles
• Performance improvement: 5% to 15% compared to RHA steel against armour piercing (AP) projectiles.
• Equivalent performance in comparison to RHA steel against long rod anti‐tank projectiles.
• Low cost – about half that of currently produced RHA steels