Wave velocities in shock-compressed cubic and hexagonal single crystals above the elastic limit

Abstract

When solids are subjected to high-pressure shock-wave loading, multiple stress waves propagate with velocities dependent upon the elastic and inelastic compressibilities of the solid. The present paper shows that the inelastic or plastic waves in cubic and hexagonal single crystals do not necessarily propagate with the bulk sound speed as they do in isotropic elastic-plastic solids. This result is a consequence of anisotropy in the plastic deformation which depends on the slip plane orientation in the crystal and has important consequences with regard to the determination of compressibilities from shock-wave data. In particular, for wave propagation in the <110> directions of cubic crystals the departure from the bulk velocity can be significant (5–25 per cent). For wave propagation normal to the c-axis in hexagonal crystals, the plastic wave velocity also differs from the bulk sound speed (10–25 per cent). Plastic wave velocities are tabulated for a number of cubic crystals on the basis of the various slip systems common to these materials. The calculated velocities are then compared with experimental data on shock-loaded single-crystal aluminum and sodium chloride.