Nonhydrodynamic Attenuation of Shock Waves in Aluminum

Abstract

The attenuation of shock waves in 2024 aluminum has been studied experimentally by impacting aluminum flyer plates upon aluminum targets and measuring the target‐free surface velocity as a function of target thickness. The results disagree with the predictions of hydrodynamic theory, exhibiting premature attenuation. An elastic‐plastic model is proposed which adequately describes the data. In this model, Poisson's ratio remains constant under compression and the tensile yield strength increases linearly with compression, attaining a value of 12 kbars at a relative volume V/V₀ of 0.86.