German tanks "Panther" are well known to a large number of people primarily due to the works of artistic culture. However, such an acquaintance leaves no opportunity to learn about any interesting details of the design of the combat vehicle. For example, not everyone knows that Panthers made ribbed armor. Why was such a surface texture needed?
The first "Panthers" appeared on the Eastern Front in 1943, shortly before the start of the Battle of the Kursk Bulge. These tanks were a very successful attempt by Hitler's engineers to oppose something to the Soviet T-34 and KV-1. The most vicious opponents of Soviet tankers, in addition to the Panthers themselves, were also the Tigers and the Ferdinand self-propelled artillery mounts. All three vehicles had very thick armor.
The appearance of such equipment at one time significantly reduced the effectiveness of Soviet anti-tank rifles, and also existing at that time anti-tank grenades RPG-40 (designer Puzyrev) and RPG-43 (designer Belyakov). Only with the advent of the RPG-6 in November 1943 did Soviet troops again receive a more or less effective grenade against German tanks.
At the same time, a new HHL-3 anti-tank cumulative magnetic mine was developed at Chemische Werke Zimmer & Co in Germany. Immediately after that, the Germans reasonably assumed that such developments would soon appear in the armies of the anti-Hitler coalition. It was decided to develop a special composition to increase the protection of tanks from such mines by reducing the magnetic properties of the metal.
For this, the same chemical plant began to produce a special composition - a zimmerite coating (German "Zimmerit"), which was applied over the armor, forming a specific ribbed surface. This coating reduced the magnetic attraction. The only problem was that neither the Allied armies nor the Red Army showed much interest in anti-tank cumulative mines, although similar developments were in all countries. As a result, the Germans had to abandon the zimmerite coating as it was unnecessary in 1944.
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Interesting fact: zimmerite is 40% barium sulfate - BaSO4, 25% Movilith 20 binder, 15% ocher pigment, 10% filler (sawdust), 10% zinc sulfide ZnS. The material had a paste-like consistency. It was applied over an anti-corrosion primer with a layer of 5 mm. The substance dried out within 24 hours under the condition of normal air temperature. After that, another layer was applied using a metal comb, which created the characteristic ribbed surface pattern.
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In addition, the rejection of zimmerite occurred for a number of other, indirect reasons. Firstly, the composition turned out to be quite expensive, and its application (and renewal) took a lot of time. Secondly, the tankers feared (and not without reason) that zimmerite could contribute to the ignition of the vehicle. Third, by the end of the war, Germany was losing more and more factories and workshops as a result of Allied bombing, which made it extremely difficult to produce a large number of goods.
Continuing the topic, you can read about why the German "Tiger" was so terrible on the battlefieldand why it ended up being useless.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/120220/53410/