Hugoniot and strength behavior of silicon carbide

The shock behavior of two varieties of the ceramic silicon carbide was investigated through a series of time-resolved plate impact experiments reaching stresses of over 140 GPa. The Hugoniot data obtained are consistent for the two varieties tested as well as with most data from the literature. Through the use of reshock and release configurations, reloading and unloading responses for the material were found. Analysis of these responses provides a measure of the ceramic’s strength behavior as quantified by the shear stress and the strength in the Hugoniot state. While previous strength measurements were limited to stresses of 20–25 GPa, measurements were made to 105 GPa in the current study. The initial unloading response is found to be elastic to stresses as high as 105 GPa, the level at which a solid-to-solid phase transformation is observed. While the unloading response lies significantly below the Hugoniot, the reloading response essentially follows it. This differs significantly from previous result...