Shock response of tantalum: Lateral stress and shear strength through the front

Lateral stresses generated by shock loading in tantalum have been determined using manganin stress gauges. These have been used in combination with the measured longitudinal impact stresses to determine the shear strength behind the shock. Results show that with an increase in impact stress, the shear strength in tantalum also increases. Analysis shows that during shock loading the lateral stress in tantalum increases behind the shock front. Since the longitudinal stress is nominally constant until arrival of the release, this implies that the shear strength is reducing behind the shock front. The shock-wave response of tantalum is discussed in the context of a previous weak-shock wave-profile analysis of tantalum, and in terms of the defect generation and storage response of pure face-centered- versus body-centered-cubic metals. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.