Interdependencies Between Mechanical Properties and Microstructural Development During One-Dimensional Shock Loading

The mechanical response of materials under shock loading conditions is governed, as indeed it is at lower strain-rates by events occurring at the microstructural level. However, since shock loading experiments occur under conditions of one-dimensional strain (rather than the more familiar onedimensional stress of quasi-static loading conditions), the generation of useful, quantitative microstructural information is a non-trivial exercise. In a simple plate impact experiment, releases from the edge of the target assembly travel into the centre, taking the target into a complex three-dimensional strain-state, rendering meaningful microstrutural analysis difficult or even impossible. As a consequence, the target assembly must contain a series of momentum trapping rings around the region of interest, the interfaces of which will open up during the passage of release waves, which prevents their subsequent transmission. A typical recovery target assembly is shown in figure 1, based upon the work of Gray and his colleagues [1-2].