A self-consistent technique for estimating the dynamic yield strength of a shock-loaded material

Abstract

A technique is described for estimating the dynamic yield stress in a shocked material. This method employs reloading and unloading data from a shocked state along with a general assumption of yield and hardening behavior to estimate the yield stress in the precompressed state. No other data are necessary for this evaluation, and, therefore, the method has general applicability at high shock pressures and in materials undergoing phase transitions. In some special cases, it is also possible to estimate the complete state of stress in a shocked state. Using this method, the dynamic yield strength of aluminum at 2.06 GPa has been estimated to be 0.26 GPa. This value agrees reasonably well with previous estimates.