Normal penetration of tungsten allo y shells into steel targets was perfo rmed and the total deformation and fr acture history of the shells were successfully obtained.The mic rostructure of received shells was e xamined and analyzed,revealing that the formation of adiabatic shear band at critical section is the mainl y failure behavior of tungsten alloy shell,and matrix rupture at the tip o f internal hollow also results in the damage of the shell.Furthermore,th e failure process of critical sectio n is divided into three steps,i.e.th e formation of adiabatic shear bands,the appearance of micro-cracks in the bands and the expansion of sh ear cracks.In additional,the failu res of tungsten alloy shells start at geometrical stress concentratio n zone in the all received shells,so o nly if the local stress concentratio n coefficients are markedly decreased by shell geometrical design,the tungsten alloy shells can be able to play an important role in several applications,including military engi-neering.