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Hixson, R. S.

Publications and source records attributed to Hixson, R. S..

10 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Spall and subsequent recompaction of copper under shock loading

Research was undertaken to study spall and subsequent recompaction of oxygen-free high-thermal-conductivity copper using a single-stage large-bore light gas gun capable of planar impacts. Gun experiments were conducted that produced an initial spall in the target with a subsequent recompaction of the spall damage/layer by the use of layered impactors. Symmetric spall experiments at similar conditions were also conducted as a control to the recompaction experiments. Photonic Doppler velocimetry was used to obtain the velocity history of the target’s back surface; these velocity histories were analyzed, and the results were compared to numerical simulations. After recovery of selected samples, the microstructure was analyzed using optical imaging microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction. Recompaction waves were clearly observed in the time-resolved data obtained at the back surface of the targets. Two different series of experiments were performed to understand the effect of damage morphology on the stress required for spall recompaction. In the initial series, the peak pressure of the first shock was systematically increased to alter the amount of damage in the material. While in the second series, the peak pressure of the second shock was increased, keeping the magnitude of the first shock relatively constant to understand the effect of peak stress on the recompaction process. Findings clearly show that recompaction results in a perturbed band of the microstructure at the location of the expected spall plane in all cases except where the peak stress of the second shock is lower than the critical value.

, recompaction↗
DOE OSTI2018

Dynamic strength properties and alpha-phase shock Hugoniot of iron and steel

The properties of iron and steel are of considerable interest scientifically to the dynamic materials properties' community, as well as to a broader audience, for many applications. This is true in part because of the existence of a solid-solid phase (α–ε) transition at relatively modest stress (13 GPa). Because of this, there is a significant amount of data on iron and steel alloy shock compression properties at stresses above 13 GPa, but much less fundamental data under stress conditions lower than that, where the metals are in the α-phase. New data have been obtained under relatively low stress (below 10 GPa) conditions in which samples are subjected to low-velocity symmetric impact on the order of 0.2 to 0.4 km/s. We used well-developed flyer plate impact methods combined with velocity interferometry to measure wave speeds and strength properties in compression and tension. The shock α-phase Hugoniot data reported here are compared with literature values. A comparison of spall strength and Hugoniot elastic limit is made between different types of steel studied and for pure iron.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Spall response of single-crystal copper

We performed a series of systematic spall experiments on single-crystal copper in an effort to determine and isolate the effects of crystal orientation, peak stress, and unloading strain rate on the tensile spall strength. Strain rates ranging from 0.62 to 2.2 × 10 6 s -1 and peak shock stresses in the 5–14 GPa range, with one additional experiment near 50 GPa, were explored as part of this work. Gun-driven impactors, called flyer plates, generated flat top shocks followed by spall. This work highlights the effect of crystal anisotropy on the spall strength by showing that the spall strength decreases in the following order: [100], [110], and [111]. Over the range of stresses and strain rates explored, the spall strength of [100] copper depends strongly on both the strain rate and shock stress. Except at the very highest shock stress, the results for the [100] orientation show linear relationships between the spall strength and both the applied compressive stress and the strain rate. In addition, hydrodynamic computer code simulations of the spall experiments were performed to calculate the relationship between the strain rate near the spall plane in the target and the rate of free surface velocity release during the pullback. As expected, strain rates at the spall plane are much higher than the strain rates estimated from the free surface velocity release rate. We have begun soft recovery experiments and molecular dynamics calculations to understand the unusual recompression observed in the spall signature for [100] crystals.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Complex Loading Project, FY 2015 Final Report

Report describes project to design experiments to develop diagnostic methods, search for, and measure quasi-elastic yielding in tin, with a goal of examining both the β and BCT tin phases to see whether their elastic yield strengths differ after being shocked or shocked and reshocked, learning more about quasi-elastic yielding, and developing diagnostics to permit similar experiments on other metals.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Comparison of Hydrocode Simulations with Measured Shock Wave Velocities

We have conducted detailed 1- and 2-dimensional hydrodynamics calculations to assess the quality of simulations commonly made to understand various shock processes in a sample and to design shock experiments. We began with relatively simple shock experiments, where we examined the effects of the equation of state and the viscoplastic strength models. Eventually we included spallation in copper and iron and a solid-solid phase transformation in iron to assess the quality of the damage and phase transformation simulations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Determining the refractive index of shocked [100] lithium fluoride to the limit of transmissibility

Lithium fluoride (LiF) is a common window material used in shock- and ramp-compression experiments because it displays a host of positive attributes in these applications. Most commonly, it is used to maintain stress at an interface and velocimetry techniques are used to record the particle velocity at that interface. In this application, LiF remains transparent to stresses up to 200 GPa. In this stress range, LiF has an elastic-plastic response with a very low (<0.5 GPa) elastic precursor and exhibits no known solid-solid phase transformations. However, because the density dependence of the refractive index of LiF does not follow the Gladstone-Dale relation, the measured particle velocity at this interface is not the true particle velocity and must be corrected. For that reason, the measured velocity is often referred to as the apparent velocity in these types of experiments. In this article, we describe a series of shock-compression experiments that have been performed to determine the refractive index of LiF at the two most commonly used wavelengths (532 nm and 1550 nm) between 35 and 200 GPa to high precision. A modified form of the Gladstone-Dale relation was found to work best to fit the determined values of refractive index. In addition, we provide a direct relationship between the apparent and true particle velocity to correct experimentally obtained wave profiles by others using these velocimetry techniques.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗