Stress Wave Propagation Through Heterogeneous Media

Abstract

In heterogeneous media, scattering due to interfaces/microstructure between dissimilar materials could play an important role in shock wave dissipation and dispersion. In this work the influence of interface scattering on finite-amplitude shock waves was experimentally investigated by impacting flyer plates onto periodically layered polycarbonate/6061 aluminum, polycarbonate/304 stainless steel and polycarbonate/glass composites. Experimental results (obtained using velocity interferometer and stress gage) show that periodically layered composites investigated can support steady structured shock waves. Due to interface scattering, the effective shock viscosity increases with the increase of interface impedance mismatch, and decreases with the increase of interface density (interface area per unit volume) and loading amplitude. The strain rate within the shock front for the composites studied increasing by about the square of the shock stress, comparing with the increasing by the fourth power of the shock stress for homogeneous metals, indicates that layered composites have much larger shock viscosity due to the interface/microstructure scattering. Experimental results also show that due to the scattering effects, shock propagation in the layered composites is dramatically slowing down and the shock speed in composites can be lower than that of either its components.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 22, 2002
Accession Number
ADA413687

Entities

Organizations

  • California Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Alloys
  • Aluminum
  • Composite Materials
  • Impedance
  • Materials
  • Mechanical Impedance
  • Mechanical Properties
  • Mechanics
  • Scattering
  • Shock Waves
  • Stainless Steel
  • Strain Rate
  • Stress Waves
  • Stresses
  • Viscosity
  • Wave Propagation
  • Waves

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Combustion Dynamics and Shock Wave Physics.
  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics
  • Reinforced Composite Materials