Neil Bourne

On the shock induced failure of brittle solids

The response of brittle materials to uniaxial compressive shock loading has been the subject of much recent discussion. The physical interpretation of the yield point of brittle materials, the Hugoniot elastic limit (HEL), the dependence of this threshold on propagation distance and the effect of polycrystalline microstructure remain to be comprehensively explained. Evidence of failure occurring in glasses behind a travelling boundary that follows a shock front has been accumulated and verified in several laboratories. Such a boundary has been called a failure wave. The variations of properties across this front include complete loss of tensile strength, partial loss of shear strength, reduction in acoustic impedance, lowered sound speed and opacity to light. Recently we have reported a similar behaviour in the polycrystalline ceramics silicon carbide and alumina. It is the object of this work to present our observations of these phenomena and their relation to failure and the HEL in brittle materials.

On the analysis of transverse stress gauge data from shock loading experiments

The importance of understanding the variation of shear strength with pressure in the formulation of constitutive models has long been recognized. Previously, this had been deduced by measurements of the offset of the Hugoniot curve for a material from the calculated hydrostat. In recent papers, a direct measurement technique has been suggested in which both principal components of stress are measured using piezoresistive gauges. The reduction of the data collected from transverse stress gauges has attracted some debate and is reviewed here. In particular, the stress and strain states experienced by the gauge must be considered. The hardening of the gauge with longitudinal stress or pressure was investigated. Examples from experiments in metals and ceramics are given. The effect of gauge geometry was assessed and results show that the measured stresses from either gauge were within 0.5% of each other when subjected to identical impact conditions. An investigation was also performed on the effect of insulation thickness around the gauge and again no effect on the measured stress was found.

Delayed failure in shocked silicon carbide

Plate impact and split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) experiments have been conducted on three grades of silicon carbide produced by different routes. Data are presented which indicate that the failure of the materials was delayed for some time after the maximum stress had been achieved. In particular, the measured lateral component of the stress in plate impact was found to increase across a front which traveled behind the shock. This phenomenon is akin to the failure wave which has been observed to occur in glasses but has not previously been reported in polycrystalline materials. Hopkinson bar experiments have revealed significant differences in the behaviors between the three materials. These may be related to the effects observed in the plate impact experiments. These results explain the anomalous ballistic phenomena that have been reported for the penetration behavior of SiC. Additionally the Hugoniot elastic limit (HEL) and shear strength were found to vary with the production route used.

The behavior of an epoxy resin under one-dimensional shock loading

The response of an epoxy resin has been investigated using the methods of plate impact to generate planar shock waves. In particular, the Hugoniot, both in stress–particle velocity and shock velocity–particle velocity space, and the variation of shear strength with impact stress, have been investigated. Comparison of the results of this investigation with those of previous workers shows good agreement. Measurements of lateral stress, which have been used to determine the shear strength have indicated that shear strength increases with longitudinal stress in the range investigated. Further, lateral stresses have been shown to decrease behind the shock front, implying an increase of strength of this material during shock loading. It would seem possible that this is a manifestation of the viscoplastic nature of epoxy based resins.

On the effect of manganin gauge geometries upon their response to lateral stress

This work concerns the calibration of manganin gauges of different geometry used to measure the lateral component of the stress field behind a shock. The response of the gauges was calibrated for a series of stress levels for two differing gauge geometries. Below a lateral stress of about 3.5 GPa, T-shaped gauges have a lower change in resistance than their grid-shaped counterparts. However, above this level, T- and grid-geometries have a common response. Analysis indicates that the T gauges are behaving like embedded wire gauges in this stress regime. Such behaviour must be accounted for, especially in low impedance materials shocked to low stress levels.

On the influence of loading profile upon the tensile failure of stainless steel

A material placed in direct contact with a high explosive experiences a Taylor wave (triangular-shaped) shock loading profile. While a large number of studies have probed the structure, properties, and tensile response of materials subjected to square-topped shock loading pulses histories, few studies have systematically quantified the influence of shock-wave profile shape on material response. Samples of 316L stainless steel were shock loaded to peak stresses of 6.6, 10.2, and 14.5 GPa to examine the influence of square-topped and triangular (Taylor wave)-shaped pulse loading on the dynamic tensile behavior (spallation). The 316L SS samples were loaded with a square-topped pulse to each peak shock stress, using a pulse duration of 0.9 μs. They displayed increasing incipient spallation damage with increasing peak stress. Samples loaded to the peak shock stresses of 6.6 and 10.2 GPa with a Taylor-wave loading pulse (which immediately unloads the sample after the peak Hugoniot stress is achieved) exhibited ...

Soft recovery of polytetrafluoroethylene shocked through the crystalline phase II-III transition

Polymers are increasingly being utilized as monolithic materials and composite matrices for structural applications historically reserved for metals. High strain-rate applications in aerospace, defense, and the automotive industries have lead to interest in the shock response of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and the ensuing changes in polymer structure due to shock prestraining. We present an experimental study of crystalline structure evolution due to pressure-induced phase transitions in a semicrystalline polymer using soft-recovery, shock loading techniques coupled with mechanical and chemical postshock analyses. Gas-launched, plate impact experiments have been performed on pedigreed PTFE 7C, mounted in momentum trapped, shock assemblies, with impact pressures above and below the phase II to phase III crystalline transition. Below the phase transition only subtle changes were observed in the crystallinity, microstructure, and mechanical response of PTFE. Shock loading of PTFE 7C above the phase II-III...

On the Hugoniot elastic limit in polycrystalline alumina

The use of polycrystalline ceramics in engineering applications requires a better knowledge of microstructural response than exists at present. The continuum response of the alumina AD995 to shock loading has been extensively investigated. This work aims to connect microstructural response with continuum observations. Over recent years, workers have reported failure in various polycrystalline ceramics occurring behind a propagating front running behind the shock. These phenomena have been investigated using embedded stress sensors and a recovery technique that has allowed the observation of the microstructure above and below the Hugoniot elastic limit (HEL). These results are brought together here to explain the observed behavior. The failure front velocity is found to change with the applied stress, in particular, it slows markedly as the HEL is exceeded. Further, the curvature of histories recorded by sensors may be related to the observed response. The evidence in the microstructure shows that the resp...

Measurement of the shear strength of pure tungsten during one-dimensional shock loading

The behavior of a pure tungsten under conditions of one-dimensional shock loading has been monitored using Manganin stress gauges, in longitudinal and lateral orientations. The shock induced equation of state, in terms of stress and particle velocity (from the longitudinal gauges), shows that the Hugoniot of this pure material agrees with the results of previous workers, both in pure tungsten and tungsten alloys. Lateral stress traces show an increase in stress (and hence decrease in shear strength) behind the shock front, in a manner similar to that observed in a tungsten heavy alloy and pure tantalum. It has been proposed that this is due to the high Peierl’s stress initially restricting dislocation generation, followed by a later increased in dislocation density. However, the brittle manner in which tungsten fails under shock loading indicates that other mechanisms are in operation. It has been suggested that the shock front nucleates cracking, which progressively grows behind it, which in combination ...

The equation of state of two alumina-filled epoxy resins

The shock Hugoniots of two different alumina–epoxy particulate composites have been measured in terms of shock velocity, particle velocity and shock stress. Both shock velocities and shock stresses increase with increasing amounts of alumina loading. The shock velocity–particle velocity relationships have been shown to be linear, and that with increasing alumina, behaviour shifts from a viscous to a response more commonly seen in metals and ceramics. Comparisons of the calculated hydrodynamic pressure and shock stress suggest that these materials have a constant shear strength with increasing shock stress. Finally, comparison of the material with the highest amount of alumina, with the work of others, shows close agreement.