Dynamic sliding of frictionally held bimaterial interfaces subjected to impact shear loading

The fast frictional sliding along an incoherent interface of a bimaterial system composed of a Homalite and a steel plate is studied experimentally in a microsecond time-scale. The plates are held together by a static uniform compressive pre-stress while dynamic sliding is initiated by asymmetric impact. The full-field technique of dynamic photoelasticity is simultaneously used with a local technique of velocimetry based on laser interferometry. In the case where the impact loading is applied to the Homalite plate, a shear Mach line originates from a disturbance propagating along the interface supersonically with respect to the dilatational wave speed of Homalite and it crosses the P-wave front. The sliding starts well behind the P-wave front in Homalite and it propagates with a supershear speed with respect to Homalite. A fast interface wave and a wrinkle-like opening pulse (detachment wave) travelling along the interface are observed. When the impact loading is applied to the steel plate, the local sliding velocity measurement reveals that sliding initiates with the arrival of the P-wave front in the steel plate.