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Hungarian armor plates.

Hungarian armor plates

 

Since Hungary lacked the necessary minerals for armor plates it relied heavily on imports but with Germany's constant territorial gains it was almost impossible. Since the beginning Germany forced an "economic co-operation" on Hungary which in reality was a one-sided trading contract between the two countries with Hungary constantly fulfilling her part to the max. - she was offten forced to lower her civilian and military needs to the very minimum - while Germany just kept promising an increased the export demands from Hungary often using threats and blackmailing. Also with other European trading partners of Hungary being occupied by Germany did not helped either and since most of the trading lines went through German occupied territories the connection between Germany and Hungary was even stronger. Because Germany didn't fulfill her part of the contracts and constantly kept her exports of minerals to a minimum - also these shipments offten arrived much later than she promised - Hungary was forced to seek for substitute minerals. Expermients for such minerals were successful, however their research was not cheap.

At the very beginning Hungary had a lot of minerals stored up. The 38.M Toldi light tanks, 36/40.M Nimród SPAAGs and 39.M Csaba armored cars all had good quality armor plates made from Chromium-Nickel-Molybdenum (Cr 1,0-2,0% - Ni 4,0% - Mo 0,3%). It's important to point out that at that time Hungary was specialised in making 13 mm or thinner armor plates. At the end of the 30s Hungary used CrNi armor plates to test her own armor-piercing shells, those armor plates had a tensile strenght of 100 kg/mm2 (980.665 MPa), but tests of the 8 mm 31.M armor piercing cartridge were also carried out on 10 mm and thinner armor plates which had a tensile strenght of 180-200 kg/mm2 (1765.197-1961.33 MPa). We can assume that the armor plates of the aforementioned fighting vehicles also had armor plates of similar quality.

In 1941 however the lack of noble metals became a problem and researches for substitute minerals began. In March 1941 the Stell Forging Mill in Diósgyőr presented one of its enginner's work, the Mester's armor plate. Mester's armor plate used only those minerals which were mined in Hungary with Chromium being the only exception. The Mester's armor plate's composition: C 0,55-0,72% - Mn max. 0,5% - Si max. 0,35% - Cr max. 0,65%. The armor plate had good capability of resistance and the production started in May 1941. The problem with the Mester's armor plate was that only 13 mm and thicker armor plates could be made out of it, the production of thinner armor plates resulted in a huge number of scrap - 40-50% or in some cases even 80%. Because of this armor plates of 13mm or thinner were all made of Chromium and Nickel similar to the armor plates used in the Toldi, Nimród and Csaba vehicles but with less Nickel and completly abandoning the Molybdenum (Cr 1,0-2,0% - Ni 1,0-1,5%). The 40.M Turán tanks used Mester's and Chromium-Nickel armor plates.

The drawback of the Mester's armor plates demanded more research. In October 1942 a new armor plate was made; the Ajax armor plate. The Ajax armor plate was good for 13mm and thinner armor plates but the developers managed to make 25-50 mm thick armor plates too which almost equalled in quality with the Mester's armor plate but it still was inferior to the Mester's armor plate in capability of resistance. However the Ajax armor plate used Titanium which was an import mineral. Hungary managed to store Titanium from Switzerland and Belgium before the war but from 1940 the supply of this material was not possible only through Germany. Therefore experiments strated in 1943 to replace the Titanium with Aluminium, a mineral that Hungary had in a huge amount. Another drawback of the Ajax armor plate was that it's heat treatment was more complicated, but it also had an advantage over the Mester's armor plate: it didn't need alignment. The Ajax armor plate's composition: C 0,45-0,55% - Mn 1,0-1,3% - Si max. 0,4% - Cr 0,8-1,0% - Ti max. 0,3%. Since the mass-production of the 41.M Turán tanks started around this time it's highly possible that these vehicles used Mester's armor plates and Ajax armor plates. From then on 40.M Turán tanks also started to use Ajax armor plates for their thinner armor.

Since Toldi tanks were produced until 1942, while Nimród SPAAGs and Csaba armored cars were produced untill 1944 it's highly possible that some of them were fully made out of Ajax armor plates and reduced Nickel containing CrNi armor plates. Also the additional armor plates of prototypes of the 38/42.M Toldi (Toldi IIA) and 43.M Toldi (Told III) were probably all made out of Chromium-Nickel armor plates but the serial vehicles most likely used Ajax armor plates since it was available when mass production started. It's also need to mentioned that at that time the CrNi armor plates produced by Hungary had a Brinell strength of 300 Brinell.

Both the Mester's and Ajax armor plates at that time had a common feature; they were brittle. When a 50 mm thick plate was hit by a large caliber gun - 7.5 cm or larger - it didn't provide enough protection and the fragments were very dangerous to the tank crews. To reduce the fragility of both armor plates the Hungarian Institute of Military Technology decided to face-harden the armor plates while keeping the Chromium-Manganese alloy. It's also important to mention that from 1942-43 a lot of armor plates were made in electric arc furnaces.

There was a problem in the production of 75 mm thick armor plates for a while since Hungary lacked the industrial capacity for that. For a time a 75 mm armor plate was possible only by placing three 25 mm thick armor plates together. Because of that the first few Zrínyi assault guns had that kind of "sandwiched" armor. However in October 1943 a new 75 mm thick Ajax armor plate was made. This armor plate had an acceptable 78-90 kg/mm2 (764.9187-882.5985 MPa) tensile strength and provided better protection against 7.5 cm caliber guns than the 50 mm thick armor plates. The 75 mm Ajax armor plate's composition: C 0,32-0,40% - Mn 0,9-1,2% - Cr 1-1,7% - Si max. 0,4% - Va max. 0,2% - Ti max. 0,15%. From that time on the Zrínyi assault guns all used this type of Ajax armor for their frontal armor plates. A serial 43.M Turán and 44.M Zrínyi probably would had this type of armor too.

For armor plates thicker than 75 mm - 100 and 120mm to be exact - Hungary tried to buy the licence of the German armor plates since - to our current knowledge - she didn't have the proper indutrial capacity to build such thick armor plates. These armor plates were meant to be used for the 44.M Tas project. However Germany probably refused to sell the armor licence - as she did many times before. Also, when Hungary was occupied by Germany in March 1944 the Germans constantly gained more and more influence in the Hungarian war industry and started to forbid any "unnecessary developments" since they wanted to use Hungary's materials for their own sake, therefore a project such as the Tas tank which was a completly new design even for Hungary was considered to be an "unnecessary development" in the eyes of Germany. Even tho the Tas project continued which means that it was either accepted by the Germans - which is hardly imaginable - or that it was kept hidden even from them.

Since the Hungarian Ministry of Defence ordered a mild steel prototype and a military-quality steel prototype of the Tas tank it's assumed that the problem of the 100 and 120 mm armor plates were somehow solved, if not the Tas project would be delayed because of the lack of armor plates. This can either mean that the Hungarian engineers managed to develop a not yet known 100-120 mm armor plate or that they welded two armor plates together.

In comparison:

German Panther tank side armor (late-war)

Composition: C 0,44% - Mn 0,9% - Cr 1,7% - V 0,1%

Brinell hardness: 293-302

Tensile strength: 101 kg/mm2 (990.47165 MPa)

German Panther tank side armor (mid-war)

Composition: C 0,44% - Mn 0,86% - Si 0,27% - S 0,17% - P 0,24% - Cr 1,72% - V 0,1% - Cu 0,02% - Al 0,015% - Mo traces

Brinell hardness: 293-302

Tensile strength: 101,4 kg/mm2 (994.39431 MPa)

Russian T-34 lower side (strongest part)

Composition: C 0,255% - Mn 1,16% - Si 1,84% - S 0,013% - P 0,021% - Ni 1,26% - Cr 1,09% - Mo 0,28% - V 0,04%

Brinell hardness: 477

Tensile strength: 161,6 kg/mm2 (1584.75464 MPa)

Russian IS-2 tower (strongest part)

Composition: C 0,20% - Mn 0,75% - Si 1,59% - S 0,037% - P 0,021% - Ni 2,86% - Cr 1,58% - Mo 0,33% - V 0,04%

Brinell hardness: 447

Tensile strength: 148,4 kg/mm2 (1455.30686 MPa)

Sources:

Hebime,War Thunder Community Helper,Blog Editor

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