The Effect of Initial Pressed Density on the Dynamic Densification Behavior of Brittle Granular Materials

The effect of bulk initial density (rho 00) on the dynamic densification behavior of a brittle granular system, cerium dioxide (CeO2), is investigated. Specifically, the consolidation behavior of pressed powder compacts at three initial bulk densities, 33, 55, and 63% of theoretical maximum density (TMD), is examined at shock compressed densities within the compaction range via gas gun driven plate-on-plate impact experiments. The shock Hugoniot data collected from these experiments are presented and used to calibrate P-alpha compaction models. The dependency of these P-alpha model parameters on initial density are presented and discussed, particularly with their relevance to being used in a predictive manner.