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When it comes to tank design and technology, many people focus on the power of the gun, the accuracy of fire control, the thickness of the armor, or the power of the engine. But in fact, tank manufacturing is also a means of testing basic industrial technologies such as steel plate welding and producing high-quality armor steel. Specialized in the OEM/ODM industry CNC machining china factory
During World War II, the fabrication and welding of tank steel plates reached a new level.
By the end of the Second World War, the thickness of tank steel plates rolled by various countries at one time had reached 100-150 mm, which put forward very high requirements for the basic steel industry. Due to the pursuit of elasticity, special metal elements must be added to heavy-duty steel plates for tanks to achieve a balance between ductility and hardness. In terms of steel plate welding, countries are also constantly innovating, and large-scale mechanical welding methods are rapidly becoming popular.
However, with the development of storage tank steel technology, many countries still have problems in applying the new technology. The Russians have been pursuing mass production of weapons and simplifying the production process, and there are many problems with this. Specialized in the OEM/ODM industry CNC machining china factory
For example, the 46-ton JS3 tank (IS3 if transcribed according to the Russian-English correspondence table) developed in the latter part of World War II. JS3, IS3 are valid. ) had serious problems with steel and welding. For better protection, JS3 adopts fully welded structure. Among them, the front part of the car body is three-dimensional, with a complex structure and a multi-faceted structure, which puts forward higher requirements for the welding process. The thickness of the front plate reached 110 mm, which was close to the limit of Soviet technology at that time.
By autumn 1945, 400 JS3 tanks were produced within a few months. However, the responding troops found that these new cars had just rolled off the assembly line, and soon began to appear various cracks in the steel plates. The cracked armor is concentrated near the weld, and even the entire weld has cracks. There are even cracks in the center of some steel plates, indicating that the welding process and steel plate manufacturing process are not up to standard. Specialized in the OEM/ODM industry CNC machining china factory
The JS3s were a formidable force at the multinational parade in Berlin in 1945, but it’s not clear if any of these JS3s were urgently repaired, at least until they appeared normal on the parade ground.
A heavy tank JS3 of the 60th Regiment of the Defense Army set a record: more than 100 large and small cracks appeared on the whole vehicle, and the engine bracket was completely broken. Many soldiers didn’t want to, or were afraid to drive a tank of this quality. Also, the cramped interior of the JS3 is not efficient enough.
JS3 was shut down urgently, and all 400 cars discharged from the factory were repaired. Among them, more than 50 vehicles lost their maintenance value due to excessive cracks and were declared scrapped.
The total damage caused by the accident was 5 million rubles, roughly equivalent to 12 million U.S. dollars at the time. If converted by purchasing power, it is equivalent to nearly 200 million US dollars (more than 1.2 billion yuan) today. Production of JS3 was resumed only after the process was reworked. The aftermath of the incident was also very “Russian”, with more than 60 responsible persons arrested and imprisoned. In fact, to a certain extent, they are not blamed, but they are not keeping up with the process. Specialized in the OEM/ODM industry CNC machining china factory
In fact, Russia has many problems with steel plate materials and welding.
For example, during the war, its T34 tank had poorer quality steel plates than German tanks, and even with the same thickness of armor plate, its bullet resistance was worse than that of its competitors. Because of the pursuit of high production and convenient production, its welding process is relatively simple. In such a process, welding of steel plates exceeding 100mm will naturally cause problems. Before that, the armor of the JS2 tank was relatively simple cast armor, while the front body of the KV tank was welded with additional armor. This is the first time the tank industry has such thick integrated steel plates. Specialized in the OEM/ODM industry CNC machining china factory