Characterization of Shocked Beryllium
Beryllium metal has many excellent structural properties in addition to its unique radiation characteristics, including: high elastic modulus, low Poisson's ratio, low density, and high melting point. However, it suffers from several major mechanical drawbacks: 1) high anisotropy - due to its hexagonal lattice structure and its susceptibility to crystallographic texturing; 2) susceptibility to impurity-induced fracture - due to grain boundary segregation; and 3) low intrinsic ductility at ambient temperatures thereby limiting fabricability. While large ductility results from deformation under the conditions of compression, the material can exhibit a brittle behavior under tension. Furthermore, there is a brittle to ductile transition at approximately 200 C under tensile conditions. While numerous studies have investigated the low-strain-rate constitutive response of beryllium, the combined influence of high strain rate and temperature on the mechanical behavior and microstructure of beryllium has received limited attention over the last 40 years. Prior studies have focused on tensile loading behavior, or limited conditions of dynamic strain rate and/or temperature. The beryllium used in this study was Grade S200-F (Brush Wellman, Inc., Elmore, OH) material. The work focused on high strain rate deformation and examine the validity of constitutive models in deformation rate regimes, including shock, the experiments were modeled using a Lagrangian hydrocode. Two constitutive strength (plasticity) models, the Preston-Tonks-Wallace (PTW) and Mechanical Threshold Stress (MTS) models, were calibrated using the same set of quasi-static and Hopkinson bar data taken at temperatures from 77K to 873K and strain rates from 0.001/sec to 4300/sec. In spite of being calibrated on the same data, the two models give noticeably different results when compared with the measured wave profiles. These high strain rate tests were conducted using both explosive drive and a gas gun to accelerate the material. Preliminary analysis of the results appears to indicate that, if fractured by the initial shock loading, the S200F Be remains sufficiently intact to support a shear stress following partial release and subsequent shock re-loading of the material. Additional 'arrested' drive shots were designed and tested to minimize the reflected tensile pulse in the sample. These tests were done to both validate the model and to put large shock induced compressive loads into the beryllium sample.