Lalit C. Chhabildas

Rise-time measurements of shock transitions in aluminum, copper, and steel

Time‐resolved measurements of shock‐wave rise times have been accomplished for aluminum, copper, and steel to stress levels of 41, 96, and 139 GPa, respectively, using velocity‐interferometer techniques. To within the time resolution of the technique, the shock transition is found to occur within 3 ns in all materials. Based on this upper limit for the transition time, limiting viscosity coefficients of 1000, 3000, and 4000 P are obtained for 6061‐T6 aluminum, OFHC copper, and 4340 steel, respectively, at strain rates above 108 s−1. It is found that the effective viscosity can be expressed as parameters in a Maxwellian relation for an elastic‐plastic solid, in which the viscosity is related to an effective relaxation time. It is also shown that viscosity is inversely proportional to mobile‐dislocation density, which implies that the density of mobile dislocations obtained during shock compression in these materials is well over 109/cm2.

Dynamic behavior of boron carbide

Boron carbide displays a rich response to dynamic compression that is not well understood. To address poorly understood aspects of behavior, including dynamic strength and the possibility of phase transformations, a series of plate impact experiments was performed that also included reshock and release configurations. Hugoniot data were obtained from the elastic limit (15–18 GPa) to 70 GPa and were found to agree reasonably well with the somewhat limited data in the literature. Using the Hugoniot data, as well as the reshock and release data, the possibility of the existence of one or more phase transitions was examined. There is tantalizing evidence, but at this time no phase transition can be conclusively demonstrated. However, the experimental data are consistent with a phase transition at a shock stress of about 40 GPa, though the volume change associated with it would have to be small. The reshock and release experiments also provide estimates of the shear stress and strength in the shocked state as ...

Shear strength of shock-loaded polycrystalline tungsten

Previous experiments have suggested that tungsten undergoes a significant loss of shear strength when shock loaded to stresses greater than 7 GPa. In order to investigate this effect in more detail, a series of experiments was conducted in which polycrystalline tungsten was first shock loaded to approximately 10 GPa and then either unloaded or reloaded from the shocked state. Analysis of measured time‐resolved wave profiles indicates that during initial compression to 9.7 GPa, the shear stress in polycrystalline tungsten increases to a maximum value of 1.1 GPA near a longitudinal stress of 5 GPa, but decreases to a final value of 0.8 GPa for stresses approaching 10 GPa. During reloading from a longitudinal stress of 9.7 GPa to a final value of ∼14 GPa, the shear stress increases to a peak value of 1.2 GPa and softens to 1.0 GPa in the final state. During unloading from the shocked state, the initial response is elastic with a strong Baushinger effect. Examination of a recovered sample shows evidence for b...

Recent progress in ALEGRA development and application to ballistic impacts

ALEGRA is a multi-material, arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) code for solid dynamics being developed by the Computational Physics Research and Development Department at Sandia National Laboratories. It combines the features of modem Eulerian shock codes, such as CTH, with modem Lagrangian structural analysis codes. With the ALE algorithm , the mesh can be stationary (Eulerian) with the material flowing through the mesh, the mesh ran move with the material (Lagrangian) so there is no flow between elements, or the mesh motion can be entirely independent of the material motion (Arbitrary). All three mesh types can coexist in the same problem and any mesh may change its type during the calculation. In this paper we summarize several key capabilities that have recently been added to the code or are currently being implemented. As a demonstration of the capabilities of ALEGRA, we have applied it to the experimental data taken by Silsby.

Enhanced hypervelocity launcher - capabilities to 16 km/s

Abstract A systematic study is described which has led to the successful launch of thin flier plates to velocities of 16 km/s. The energy required to launch a flier plate to 16 km/s is approximately 10 to 15 times the energy required to melt and vaporize the plate. The energy must, therefore, be deposited in a well-controlled manner to prevent melt or vaporization. This is achieved by using a graded-density assembly to impact a stationary flier-plate. Upon impact, time-dependent, structured, high pressure pulses are generated and used to propel the plates to hypervelocities without melt or fracture. In previous studies, a graded-density impact of 7.3 km/s was used to launch a 0.5 mm thick plate to a velocity of over 12 km/s. If impact techniques alone were to be used to achieve flier-plate velocities approaching 16 km/s, this would require that the graded-density impact occur at - 10 km/s. In this paper, we describe a new technique that has been implemented to enhance the performance of the Sandia hypervelocity launcher. This technique of creating an impact-generated acceleration reservoir, has allowed the launch of 0.5 mm to 1.0 mm thick plates to record velocities up to 15.8 km/s. In these experiments, both titanium (Ti-6A1-4V) and aluminum (6061-T6) alloy were used for the flier-plate material. These are the highest metallic projectile plate velocities ever achieved for masses in the range of 0.1 g to 1 g.

An impact technique to accelerate flier plates to velocities over 12 km/s

Abstract Very high pressure and acceleration is necessary to launch flier plates to hypervelocities. In addition, the high pressure loading must be uniform, structured, and shockless, i.e., time-dependent to prevent the flier plate from either fracturing or melting. In this paper, a novel technique is described which allows the use of 100 GPa megabar loading pressures and 109-g acceleration to launch intact flier plates to velocities of 12.2 km/s. The technique has been used to launch nominally 1-mm thick aluminum, magnesium, and titanium alloy plates to velocities over 10 km/s, and 0.5-mm thick aluminum and titanium alloy plates to velocities of 12.2 km/s.

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...

Shock response of a glass-fiber-reinforced polymer composite

Abstract The present work describes the compression and release response of a glass-fiber-reinforced polyester composite (GRP) under shock loading to 20 GPa. Shock experiments in GRP were performed at Sandia National Laboratories and the US Army Research Laboratory. GRP is a heterogeneous material. The diagnostic measurements fluctuate beyond the precision of the experimental measurements but they do permit determination of an average response of the material at the end state. These experiments show that: (i) GRP deforms elastically in compression to at least 1.3 GPa; (ii) the deformation coordinates of shocked and re-shocked GRP lie on the deformation locus of initially shocked GRP to 4.3 GPa; (iii) and the release path of GRP shocked to varying magnitudes of stresses indicate that the GRP expands such that its density when stresses are released in the range of 3–5 GPa from a peak compressive stress of 9 GPa and above is lower than the initial density of GRP. Possible reasons for the observed lower density remain to be investigated.

Investigation of the mesoscopic scale response of low-density pressings of granular sugar under impact

The mesoscopic scale response of low-density pressings of granular sugar (sucrose) to shock loading has been examined in gas-gun impact experiments using both VISAR and a line-imaging, optically recording velocity interferometer system in combination with large-volume-element, high-resolution, three-dimensional numerical simulations of these tests. Time-resolved and spatially resolved measurements of material motion in waves transmitted by these pressings have been made as a function of impact velocity, sample thickness, and sample particle size distribution. Observed wave profiles exhibit a precursor regime arising from elastic stress wave propagation and a dispersive compaction wave with superimposed localized particle velocity fluctuations of varying amplitude. Material motion associated with dynamic stress bridging leads compaction wave arrival by ∼2μs at the lowest impact velocity (0.25kms−1) employed in this study and <200ns at the higher values (0.7–0.8kms−1). Over the same range, the compaction wa...

Time-resolved particle velocity measurements at impact velocities of 10 km/s

Abstract Hypervelocity launch capabilities (9 – 16 km/s) with macroscopic plates have become available in recent years. It is now feasible to conduct instrumented plane-wave tests using this capability. Successfully conducting such tests requires a planar launch and impact at hypervelocities, appropriate triggering for recording systems, and time-resolved measurements of motion or stress at a particular point or set of points within the target or projectile during impact. We have conducted the first time-resolved wave-profile experiments using velocity interferometric techniques at impact velocities of 10 km/s. These measurements show that aluminum continues to exhibit normal release behavior to 161 GPa shock pressure, with complete loss of strength of the shocked state. These experiments have allowed a determination of shock-wave window transparency in conditions produced by a hypervelocity impact. In particular, lithium fluoride appears to lose transparency at a shock stress of 200 GPa; this appears to be the upper limit for conventional wave profile measurements using velocity interferometric techniques.