Behavior of point defects under impulsive dynamical loading

Abstract

The behavior of point defects (interstitial atoms and vacancies) is examined in the front of a plane shock wave. The wave is modeled by a soliton pulse. It is shown that in high-pressure shock waves with a narrow loading wave front an unactivated motion of the point defects is possible, and for a pressure Po ∼ 50 GPa and xo ∼ 10−8 m, a “dragging” of the interstitial atoms by the front of the shock wave can be observed. The vacancies are displaced in the field of the shock pulse in the opposite direction to the motion of the pulse. Here the mobility of the vacancies is significantly lower than that of the interstitial atoms.