Reshock analysis for PMMA driven above the threshold for chemical decomposition
Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is a transparent thermoplastic often used in shock compression science. Previous proceedings (AIP Conf. Proc. 845, 131 (2006)) described plate impact experiments in which PMMA was reshocked to pressures of up to ~130 GPa, well above that at which it decomposes on its principal Hugoniot. Because some of the conclusions of the original analysis were surprising, the results were reanalyzed in a later proceeding (ibid. 1426, 771 (2012)). In addition to our own reanalysis of the data, we performed hydrodynamic simulations of the experiments based on a new equation of state for PMMA shocked above its threshold for decomposition.