Shockwave response of two carbon fiber-polymer composites to 50 GPa

Abstract

Shock compression of two molded, carbon fiber-filled polymer composites was performed in gas gun-driven plate impact experiments at impact velocities up to ≈5 km/s. Hugoniot states for both composites were obtained from <5 GPa to nearly 50 GPa. The two materials contained a high fill percentage of chopped carbon fibers, bound by either phenolic or cyanate ester polymeric resins. Their dynamic responses were similar, although the 10 wt. % difference of carbon fill produced measureable divergence in shock compressibility. The chopped carbon fibers in the polymer matrix led to moderately anisotropic shocks, particularly when compared with the more commonly encountered filament-wound carbon fiber-epoxy composites. A discontinuity, or cusp, was observed in the principal Hugoniot of both materials near 25 GPa. We attribute the accompanying volume collapse to shock-driven chemical decomposition above this condition. Inert and reacted products equations of state were used to capture the response of the two materials below and above the cusp.