Institute of History and Archeology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg, Russia:

Vas. V. Zapariy, Cand. Hist., Associate Prof., Researcher, e-mail: pantera.zap@gmail.com

To the end of the 1920-ies, creation and production of heterogeneous armor for land vehicles has become among the most promising engineering trends in the world. Such kind of armor bases on structural heterogeneity of the metal, expressed in different strengths of the front and rear surfaces. Heterogeneity was achieved in a two general ways: by cementing the surface layer of the armor sheet with a single chemical composition, and by creating a single armor plate consisting of two rolled metal layers with different chemical composition. Soviet metallurgical engineers of the Izhora and Mariupol plants were involved in the creation of heterogeneous bulletproof armor for new Soviet tanks. In 1931–1932 the problem of creating technologies for the production of heterogeneous armor was successfully solved, however, its serial production was carried out for a short time and was stopped due to the high cost of production and the high level of defects.

1. Melnikov N. N., Gizhevskiy B. А., Zapariy Vas. V., Zapariy V. V. The history of creating cannonproof 8S armor. Chernye Metally. 2019. No. 5. pp. 70–79.
2. Zapariy Vas. V., Gizhevskiy B. А., Melnikov N. N., Zapariy V. V. Features of the design and manufacture of armor protection of German tanks during the Great Patriotic War. Chernye Metally. 2019. No. 9. pp. 77–84.
3. Gizhevskiy B. А., Melnikov N. N., Zapariy Vas. V., Zapariy V. V. Armoured steel for Uralmash self-propelled artillery vehicle. Chernye Metally. 2020. No. 1. pp. 63–68.
4. Bugrov K. D., Zapariy V. V. Tank building within the framework of the USSR military and industrial strategy during 1930-ies. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. 2019. No. 448. pp. 108–118.
5. Oryshenko А. S., Tsukanov V. V., Savichev S. А., Mileykovskiy А. B., Nigmatulin О. E. Homogeneous armor in the USSR in the period 1920–1947. Voprosy materialovedeniya. 2018. No. 4 (96). pp. 221–239.
6. Oryshenko А. S., Tsukanov V. V., Savichev S. А., Mileykovskiy А. B., Nigmatulin О. E. Experience in creating heterogeneous armor in the USSR in the prewar period. Voprosy materialovedeniya. 2019. No. 1 (97). pp. 188–198.
7. Oryshenko А. S., Tsukanov V. V., Nigmatulin О. E. Armor power. About such armor in 1920-1945. Contribution of TsNII-48: Historical and scientific narration. Saint-Petersburg: ANO LA Professional, 2019. 326 p.
8. Russian State Military Archive (RGVA). F. 31811. List 1. File 38. Т-34. URL: https://t34inform.ru/doc/1930-06-06_Halepsky_Report.html (access date: 26.08.2022).
9. Melnikov N. N. Modernization of the tank industry of the USSR in the conditions of the Great Patriotic War. Yekaterinburg: Sokrat Ltd., 2017. 416 p.
10. Formation of the military-industrial complex of the USSR (1927–1937). Vol. 3. Part 2 (1933–1937): Collection of documents. Edited by А. А. Koltyukov. Collected by T. V. Sorokina. Moscow: Izdatelstvo TERRA Ltd. 2011. 944 p.
11. Formation of the military-industrial complex of the USSR (1927–1937). Vol. 3. Part 2 (1927–1932): Collection of documents. Edited by А. А. Koltyukov. Collected by T. V. Sorokina. Moscow: TERRA – Knizhnyi klub. 2008. 912 p.
12. Russian State Archive of Economics (RGAE). Holding 8798. 12th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense Industry of the USSR. List 4. Management documentation. 1932–1957. File 26. Report on the history of the production of tank armor at the plant named after Ilyich for the period 1931–1946.