Aluminum Alloy 2519 in Military Vehicles

• Published in: Advanced materials & processes Vol. 160; no. 9; pp. 43 - 46
• Main Authors: FISHER, James J, KRAMER, Lawrence S, PICKENS, Joseph R
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: Materials Park, OH ASM International 01.09.2002
• Subjects: Applications; Applied sciences; ASM and Affiliates; ASM Website; City of Materials; Elec Device Failure; Engineering techniques in metallurgy. Applications. Other aspects; Exact sciences and technology; Heat Treating; Industrial Design; Metals. Metallurgy; Others applications; Shape Memory; Thermal Spray; Military application; Aluminium base alloys; Mechanical properties; Armoured vehicle; Chemical composition; Formability; Tensile property; Stress corrosion cracking
• ISSN: 0882-7958; 2161-9425

The Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAAV) is one of the major weapon platforms under development by the U.S. Marine Corps. It is an armored personnel carrier that is designed to carry 18 personnel plus a crew of three. The AAAV will be launched from a ship stationed over the horizon relative to shore. After deployment, the vehicle will travel in littoral waters at speeds up to approximately 25 knots ( approx = 29 mph). Upon reaching shore, it switches to ground transport mode and travels on land at speeds up to approximately 45 mph to maintain pace with the M1A2 Abrams main battle tank. These challenging operational requirements place severe demands on structural materials because strength and ballistic penetration resistance must be high, density low, and corrosion resistance high. To meet these requirements, the AAAV prime contractor, General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS), baselined Al-Cu-Mg alloy 2519 as the main structural alloy for armor plate, forgings, and extrusions. Aluminum alloy 2519 was developed by Alcoa and the U.S. Army as a weldable material with ballistic penetration resistance superior to Al-Mg (5xxx) alloys, and without the susceptibility to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) that has limited the use of Al-Zn-Mg (7xxx) armor alloys. Alloy 2519 is a modified version of the highly weldable Al-Cu alloy 2219. Modifications include `reducing the copper content and adding a relatively small amount of magnesium. Reducing the copper content generally increases hot cracking susceptibility slightly, and although adding magnesium increases strength, it also promotes hot cracking susceptibility during welding. Nevertheless, GDLS engineers have developed welding parameters that avoid hot cracking problems in 2519-T87 with 2319 filler metal.