Abstract

We detail the development of a pulsed-laser-driven spherical projectile launcher to perform characterization experiments on ceramic and polymer protection materials with high experimental throughput. Prior researchers have successfully demonstrated launches of projectiles up to 50 μm in diameter, but the microstructures of protection materials for Military applications contain features (inclusions, composite layers, etc.) on larger scales. We build upon their work to launch Ti, steel, and WC spheres with diameters in the 100s of microns, albeit at slower velocities up to approximately 500 m/s, to perform impact experiments on materials with thicknesses in the 100s of microns with an emphasis on comparing our smaller length scale results to application-scale results in the literature. The developed strain rate is within the 104 to 107 s-1 regime, nicely encompassing the strain rates expected from impacts spanning small caliber to hypervelocity applications, but at an experimental scale that enables more experiments than conventional tests.

This content is only available via PDF.