Experimental Study of Mechanical Properties of 30SiMn2MoVA Steel Gun Barrel Processed by Cold Radial Forging

This work focused on the mechanical properties of 30SiMn2MoVA high strength steel gun barrel processed by cold radial forging. Three states of the tube made of this material (the state without forging, the as-forged state without annealing, and the as-forged state with annealing) were chosen to compare the axial and circumferential mechanical properties. As a result, anisotropy was found at as-forged state. The circumferential mechanical properties were inferior to the axial. The circumferential yield and tensile strength were about 150 MPa lower than the axial after forging, and the axial elongation was 155% higher than the circumferential. Even after annealing, the circumferential elongation cannot be restored to the same level as the state without forging. The reasons for anisotropy were investigated by the microstructure. The banded structure along the axial direction was observed in the forged barrel. Meanwhile, the crystalline grains of the forged gun barrel had the highest intensity of {111}〈110〉 texture which meant the grains had obvious preferential orientation. The relationship between crystallographic texture and yield strength was analyzed based on the Schmid factor. Additionally, the elastic limit internal pressure of anisotropic gun barrel was calculated, and it was lower than that under isotropic condition.