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''Zimmerit'' was a paste-like coating used on mid- and late-war German armored fighting vehicles during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. It was used to produce a hard layer covering the metal armor of the vehicle, providing enough separation that magnetically attached
anti-tank mine An anti-tank or AT mine is a type of land mine designed to damage or destroy vehicles including tanks and armored fighting vehicles. Compared to anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines typically have a much larger explosive charge, and a fuze desi ...
s would fail to stick to the vehicle, despite Germany being the only country to use magnetic anti-tank mines in numbers. ''Zimmerit'' was often left off late-war vehicles due to the unfounded concern that it could catch fire when hit. It was developed by the German company Chemische Werke Zimmer & Co (
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
).


Operation

The coating was a barrier that prevented direct contact of magnetic mines with metal surfaces of vehicles. The
magnetostatic field Magnetostatics is the study of magnetic fields in systems where the currents are steady (not changing with time). It is the magnetic analogue of electrostatics, where the charges are stationary. The magnetization need not be static; the equat ...
decreases very rapidly, with the cube of distance; the non-magnetic coating holds the magnet of the mine too far from the steel of the vehicle for it to adhere. The coating was normally ridged to increase the distance between the magnet and the armor even further, as the high points on the pattern increase the effective thickness of the coating while minimising additional weight. The mixture had the consistency of a thick paste or putty. It was applied to the vehicle, usually at the factory, patterned, and then hardened with blow torches. There were many variations seen in application designs, from the regular ridge-shaped pattern, to a less common waffle-shaped pattern. The differences mostly related to the factory producing each type of AFV. For example, the waffle pattern was seen almost exclusively on Sturmgeschütz III assault guns. In general, vehicles already in service were not coated with Zimmerit.


Deployment

The German army introduced the '' Hafthohlladung'' anti-tank weapon in 1942. This consisted of a shaped charge warhead connected to a metal ring holding three powerful horseshoe magnets. Issued to infantry, the user would run up to the tank and place the device on any surface to which the magnets would stick. The user would then pull the safety pin and run for safety. The magnets not only held the mine to the vehicle but also provided the correct spacing between warhead and armor, allowing the penetrator jet to form properly. Concerned that the simple design could be easily copied in the USSR, or the possibility that many of these weapons could fall into the hands of their enemies, the German army began looking for ways to defeat such a weapon when used against their own vehicles. ''Zimmerit'' was applied to some tanks and
casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armoured structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" ...
-style closed-top self-propelled guns and tank destroyers produced from December 1943 to 9 September 1944. It was only rarely applied to open-topped AFVs. The rough appearance of the coating gave a distinct appearance; for one type, e.g. a shingle-like look. ''Zimmerit'' was discontinued from factory application on 9 September 1944 and from field application on 7 October 1944. This was due to concerns that projectile impacts could ignite it. These proved false, but the order was never rescinded. Applying and drying the paste added days to the production of each vehicle, which was unacceptable as there was a shortage of tanks. Following the war, the British carried out trials of a similar material on Churchill and Cromwell tanks and some trials were conducted in Canada with a similar material applied to self-propelled gunsAppendix 'A' to 21 Army Group AFV Technical Report No. 26 but it was not implemented. No similar material was used on post-war tanks as the widespread use of man-portable
HEAT In thermodynamics, heat is energy in transfer between a thermodynamic system and its surroundings by such mechanisms as thermal conduction, electromagnetic radiation, and friction, which are microscopic in nature, involving sub-atomic, ato ...
rockets such as the
bazooka The Bazooka () is a Man-portable anti-tank systems, man-portable recoilless Anti-tank warfare, anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the "stovepipe", th ...
made magnetic mines obsolete.


Ingredients

The paste was composed of the following:p. 19.
* 40%
barium sulfate Barium sulfate (or sulphate) is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula Ba SO4. It is a white crystalline solid that is odorless and insoluble in water. It occurs in nature as the mineral barite, which is the main commercial source of ...
– BaSO4 * 25% polyvinyl acetate – PVA (similar to
wood glue Wood glue is an adhesive used to tightly bond pieces of wood together. Many substances have been used as glues. Traditionally animal proteins like casein from milk or collagen from animal hides and bones were boiled down to make early glues. They w ...
) * 15%
pigment A pigment is a powder used to add or alter color or change visual appearance. Pigments are completely or nearly solubility, insoluble and reactivity (chemistry), chemically unreactive in water or another medium; in contrast, dyes are colored sub ...
(
ochre Ochre ( ; , ), iron ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colou ...
) * 10%
zinc sulfide Zinc sulfide (or zinc sulphide) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula of ZnS. This is the main form of zinc found in nature, where it mainly occurs as the mineral sphalerite. Although this mineral is usually black because of various i ...
– ZnS * 10% sawdust In the raw paste, polyvinyl acetate was used in the form of "Mowilith 20", a 50%
benzene Benzene is an Organic compound, organic chemical compound with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar hexagonal Ring (chemistry), ring with one hyd ...
solution. During the drying process, the benzene evaporated and the mixture hardened.


Vehicles with factory application


References


Citations


Bibliography

* Appendix 'A' to 21 Army Group AFV Technical Report No.26 on the application of anti-magnetic compound as camouflage * * *


Further reading

*


External links

* {{Citation , url=http://www.panzerworld.net/zimmerit.html , title=The history of Zimmerit , work=panzerworld.net , access-date=12 December 2009
British Zimmerit - Tank Design & Development
''Armoured Archives'', YouTube World War II armoured fighting vehicles of Germany Coatings Armoured fighting vehicle equipment