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Widespread research over the past five decades has provided a wealth of experimental data and insight concerning the shock hardening, damage evolution, and the spallation response of materials subjected to square-topped shock-wave loading profiles. However, fewer quantitative studies have been conducted on the effect of direct, in-contact, high explosive (HE)-driven Taylor wave (unsupported shocks) loading on the shock hardening, damage evolution, or spallation response of materials. Systematic studies quantifying the effect of sweeping-detonation wave loading are yet sparser. In this study, the shock hardening and spallation response of Ta is shown to be critically dependent on the peak shock stress and the shock obliquity during sweeping-detonation-wave shock loading. Sweeping-wave loading is observed to: a) yield a lower spall strength than previously documented for 1-D supported-shock-wave loading, b) exhibit increased shock hardening as a function of increasing obliquity, and c) lead to an increased incidence of deformation twin formation with increasing shock obliquity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At high pressures zirconium is known to undergo a phase transformation from the hexagonal close packed (HCP) alpha phase to the simple hexagonal omega phase. Under conditions of shock loading, the high-pressure omega phase is retained upon release. However, the hysteresis in this transformation is not well represented by equilibrium phase diagrams and currently models that accurately represent such a solid-solid phase transformation coupled with the multi-phase plasticity likely under shock conditions do not exist. For this reason, the influence of peak shock stress on the retention of omega phase in Zr is explored in this study. In-situ VISAR measurements along with post-mortem metallographic and neutron diffraction characterization of soft recovered specimens have been utilized to quantify the volume fraction of retained omega phase, morphology of the shocked alpha and omega phases, and qualitatively understand the kinetics of this transformation. This understanding of the role of peak shock stress will be utilized to address physics to be encoded in our present macro-scale models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of shock wave loading profile is investigated for the failure processes in a brittle material. The dynamic damage response of ductile metals has been demonstrated to be critically dependent on the shockwave profile and the stress- state of the shock. Changing from a square to triangular (Taylor) profile with an identical peak compressive stress has been reported to increase the "spall strength" by over a factor of two and suppress damage mechanisms. The spall strength of tungsten heavy alloy (WHA) based on plate impact square-wave loading has been extensively reported in the literature. Here a triangular wave loading profile is achieved with a composite flyer plate of graded density in contrast to the square-wave loading. Counter to the strong dependence in wave profile in ductile metals, for WHA, both square and triangle wave profiles the failure is by brittle cleavage fracture with additional energy dissipation through crack branching in the more brittle tungsten particles, largely indistinguishable between wave profiles. The time for crack nucleation is negligible compared to the duration of the experiment and the crack propagation rate is limited to the sound speed as defined by the shock velocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time-temperature equivalence is a widely recognized property of many time-dependent material systems, where there is a clear predictive link relating the deformation response at a nominal temperature and a high strain-rate to an equivalent response at a depressed temperature and nominal strain-rate. It has been found that high-density polyethylene (HDPE) obeys a linear empirical formulation relating test temperature and strain-rate. This observation was extended to continuous stress-strain curves, such that material response measured in a load frame at large strains and low strain-rates (at depressed temperatures) could be translated into a temperature-dependent response at high strain-rates and validated against Taylor impact results. Time-temperature equivalence was used in conjuction with jump-rate compression tests to investigate isothermal response at high strain-rate while exluding adiabatic heating. The validated constitutive response was then applied to the analysis of Dynamic-Tensile-Extrusion of HDPE, a tensile analog to Taylor impact developed at LANL. The Dyn-Ten-Ext test results and FEA found that HDPE deformed smoothly after exiting the die, and after substantial drawing appeared to undergo a pressure-dependent shear damage mechanism at intermediate velocities, while it fragmented at high velocities. Dynamic-Tensile-Extrusion, properly coupled with a validated constitutive model, can successfully probe extreme tensile deformation and damage of polymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While numerous studies have investigated the low-strain-rate constitutive response of beryllium, the combined influence of high strain rate and temperature on the mechanical behavior and microstructure of beryllium has received limited attention over the last 40 years. In the current work, high strain rate tests were conducted using both explosive drive and a gas gun to accelerate the material. Prior studies have focused on tensile loading behavior, or limited conditions of dynamic strain rate and/or temperature. Two constitutive strength (plasticity) models, the Preston-Tonks-Wallace (PTW) and Mechanical Threshold Stress (MTS) models, were calibrated using common quasi-static and Hopkinson bar data. However, simulations with the two models give noticeably different results when compared with the measured experimental wave profiles. The experimental results indicate that, even if fractured by the initial shock loading, the Be remains sufficiently intact to support a shear stress following partial release and subsequent shock re-loading. Additional "arrested" drive shots were designed and tested to minimize the reflected tensile pulse in the sample. These tests were done to both validate the model and to put large shock induced compressive loads into the beryllium sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]