Measurement of low-pressure Hugoniot data for bismuth with reverse-impact geometry

Abstract

Hugoniot data for Bi are determined through measuring the impact velocity and the particle velocity at the sample/window interface on a powder gun or a two-stage light gas gun in a shock pressure range from 10 to 45 GPa, using reverse-impact geometry. The used experimental technique avoids the difficulty in accurately measuring the shock wave velocity resulting from the poor start synchronigm of electric pins under low shock pressure. The obtained Hugoniot data (shock wave velocity D versus particle velocity u) indicates that the D-u curve does have a discontinuity at a particle velocity of ~0.9 km/s, which is likely to be caused by the shock-induced solid-liquid phase transformation.