Lagrangian analysis led design of a shock recovery plate impact experiment

Shock recovery techniques, such as the flyer-plate impact test, are used to examine a material that has been subjected to a single well-defined shock, followed by a single release wave. One of the key requirements of this type of technique is that the process should be such that any change found in the sample after recovery, can only be attributed to the shock process alone. Therefore, the principal problem for a test specimen-fixture assembly is that it is designed such that the loading history of the recovered specimen is known. This has motivated this research through the analysis led design of a shock recovery experiment. The choice of Lagrangian Finite Element Analysis for this design work was driven by the method's ability to accurately track history variables (for plastic deformation) and treat contact interactions which are crucial in this problem. Starting from an initial configuration, LS-Dyna has been used to analyse in detail the resulting wave propagation to ensure the generation of a uniaxial strain state in the specimen through Lagrangian distance-time diagrams. These iso-maps enabled the identification of potential shortcomings with the initial design, in terms of the transmission of contact and the influence of radial release waves at the different boundaries between specimen and supporting fixture rings. The benefits of using Lagrangian Finite Element Analysis for this design work are its ability to track history variables (for plastic deformation) and contact treatment. Based on these findings, a new configuration was developed, which consists of an array of concentric rings that support the specimen. During shock formation in the specimen, these rings progressively transfer the loading in the impact direction and radially away from the specimen, acting as momentum traps and preventing unwanted release waves from affecting the strain state experienced by the specimen. Comparing distance time diagrams between original and proposed configurations, a design sensitivity analysis was performed, where the new geometry resulted in a decrease of both the residual velocity (-38%) and radial displacement (-27%) of the target when compared to the original setup

Recovery of release cloud from laser shock-loaded graphite and hydrocarbon targets: in search of diamonds

This work presents first insights into the dynamics of free-surface release clouds from dynamically compressed polystyrene and pyrolytic graphite at pressures up to 200 GPa, where they transform into diamond or lonsdaleite, respectively. These ejecta clouds are released into either vacuum or various types of catcher systems, and are monitored with high-speed recordings (frame rates up to 10 MHz). Molecular dynamics simulations are used to give insights to the rate of diamond preservation throughout the free expansion and the catcher impact process, highlighting the challenges of diamond retrieval. Raman spectroscopy data show graphitic signatures on a catcher plate confirming that the shock-compressed PS is transformed. First electron microscopy analyses of solid catcher plates yield an outstanding number of different spherical-like objects in the size range between ten(s) up to hundreds of nanometres, which are one type of two potential diamond candidates identified. The origin of some objects can unambiguously be assigned, while the history of others remains speculative

Recovery of release cloud from laser shock-loaded graphite and hydrocarbon targets: in search of diamonds

This work presents first insights into the dynamics of free-surface release clouds from dynamically compressed polystyrene and pyrolytic graphite at pressures up to 200 GPa, where they transform into diamond or lonsdaleite, respectively. These ejecta clouds are released into either vacuum or various types of catcher systems, and are monitored with high-speed recordings (frame rates up to 10 MHz). Molecular dynamics simulations are used to give insights to the rate of diamond preservation throughout the free expansion and the catcher impact process, highlighting the challenges of diamond retrieval. Raman spectroscopy data show graphitic signatures on a catcher plate confirming that the shock-compressed PS is transformed. First electron microscopy analyses of solid catcher plates yield an outstanding number of different spherical-like objects in the size range between ten(s) up to hundreds of nanometres, which are one type of two potential diamond candidates identified. The origin of some objects can unambiguously be assigned, while the history of others remains speculative

Large strain dynamic compression for soft materials using a direct impact experiment

Measurement of strain rate dependent material data of low density low strength materials like polymeric foams and rubbers still poses challenges of a different kind to the experimental set up. For instance, in conventional Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar tests the impedance mismatch between the bars and the specimen makes strain measurement almost impossible. Application of viscoelastic bars poses new problems with wave dispersion. Also, maximum achievable strains and strain rates depend directly on the bar lengths, resulting in large experimental set ups in order to measure relevant data for automobile crash applications.
In this paper a modified SHPB will be presented for testing low impedance materials. High strains can be achieved with nearly constant strain rate. A thin film stress measurement has been applied to the specimen/bar interfaces to investigate the initial sample ring up process. The process of stress homogeneity within the sample was investigated on EPDM and PU rubber

Continuum constitutive modeling of woven fabrics

The constitutive behavior of woven fabrics is significantly influenced by distinctive yarn interactions at the fabric mesoscale. Since, in most cases, an explicit discretization at yarn level is not desirable due to the related computational effort, an improved computational approach is proposed using a simple, but powerful kinematic model linked to the deformation of a representative volume cell (RVC) at the fabric mesoscale. The constitutive model is validated experimentally for three different fabric materials and implemented as user-defined subroutine in the explicit finite-element code LS-DYNA. The model includes an enhanced formulation for rate-dependent, dissipative shear properties

Volume dilatation in a polycarbonate blend at varying strain rates

Impact loaded polymers show a variety of strain-rate dependent mechanical properties in their elastic, plastic and failure behaviour. In contrast to purely crystalline materials, the volume of polymeric materials can significantly change under irreversible deformations. In this paper, uni-axial tensile tests were performed in order to measure the dilatation in the Polycarbonate-Acrylnitril-Butadien-Styrol (PC-ABS) Bayblend T65. The accumulation of dilatation was measured at deformation speeds of 0. 1 and 500 [mm/s]. Instrumented with a pair of two high-speed cameras, volume segments in the samples were observed. The change in volume was quantified as relation between the deformed and initial volumes of the segments. It was observed that the measured dilatations are of great significance for the constitutive models. This is specifically demonstrated through comparisons of stress-strain relations derived from the two camera-perspectives with isochoric relations based on s ingle-surface observations of the same experiments