Posted by Dick Analog on April 22, 2005 at 10:11:37:
In Reply to: SCUBA tanks for target practice!!!! posted by Chuck Tribolet on April 22, 2005 at 08:32:10:
It's scary that there others out there with an imagination as twisted as mine. I had always wondered exactly that - what would happen to a fully pressurized tank if it was impacted with a heavy, high speed projectile. These guys lived out my fantasy! (and notice that it was all guys - no woman in her right mind would waste a single neuron in thinking up such a lame experiment)
In my fantasy experiment, I visualized different results. I thought the tank would undergo a fairly extensive mechanical failure, and basically explode. Instead, the ductility of these grades of aluminum and steel kept the rupture to nothing more than a localized perforation. I think I know why Chris G. likes steel tanks so much. They're (nearly) bulletproof!
It was also surprising that the head-on impacts to the main body of the steel tank did not penetrate the tank, but a glancing impact at the curved bottom of the tank resulted in full penetration. This is likely due to the fact that the steel in the curved part of the tank had its metallurgical properties changed slightly in the final shaping process.