Identification of the Spallation Properties and Ultimate Spall Strength of Heterogeneous Materials in Dynamic Processes

Abstract— Shock wave loading of heterogeneous materials was numerically investigated using three models: a homogeneous alloy model with experimental parameters, an additive approximation model with parameters calculated from the constants and concentrations of the components, and a discrete numerical model constructed based on a random concentration distribution of components over the sample volume. The verification of the computational schemes was done by calculating the shock wave loading of homogeneous materials. Hugoniot curves were plotted and compared with experimental data to show a less than 5% deviation of the numerical results. A series of numerical simulations of spall fracture in homogeneous plates revealed that the free surface velocity profile resulting from spall fracture corresponds to the experimental profile. A relationship was derived to determine the ultimate spall strength for a heterogeneous medium based on the fracture parameters of its homogeneous components. The found homogeneous material parameters were used to simulate the shock wave loading of plates made of nickel titanium and tungsten carbide/cobalt cermet constructed with heterogeneous models. It was shown that the heterogeneous models can be effectively applied to problems of shock wave loading with spall fracture, and the deviation between the calculated free surface velocity of a heterogeneous plate and the experimental data does not exceed 10%.