Investigation of mechanical and low velocity impact properties of alodine coated Al-5083 armor alloy

Many vehicles and equipment in the military field operate under difficult conditions and many R&D studies are carried out in order to ensure maximum efficiency under these conditions. Surface coating processes that are still being developed today are one of them. Vehicles or equipment must be suitable for salt water, humidity, snow, hot, cold, sand and terrain conditions. Therefore, many of the companies serving in the defense industry apply surface coating processes on their products before painting or at the final product stage. In this field in general; Allodyne coating, anodized coating or zinc-nickel coating are preferred. According to the type of material used and considering the ambient conditions in which the part will operate, the coating process, which is found appropriate by the design, is applied on the part. In this study, six aluminum 5083 H321 materials were used as test pieces. During the coating process, values such as temperature and pH were kept constant and only the waiting times in the allodyne tank were changed. Afterwards, the dyeing process was performed and the test pieces were put to the test. During the test, the first noticeable color tones were observed on the parts waiting in the allodyne tank at different times, as well as electrical conductivity, paint adhesion capabilities, surface roughness, coating thickness on the material, SEM EDS analysis and processes and finally the low speed drop test was performed and the effect on the ballistic results was analyzed. . While similar values were found between their electrical conductivity, the piece with the best paint adhesion ability of 45 seconds gave the best result. As the waiting time in the coating increased, an increase in the surface roughness was also observed. While it was understood that the waiting time did not cause any change in the material thickness, it was observed that the teeth worked well in 0sec, 15sec, 45sec, 90sec times in M6 and M10 teeth, but it had a negative effect on the operation of the teeth in 240s and 600sec. It was observed that coating times had an effect on ballistic examinations.