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DOE OSTI Β· 3382480

Vanishing dynamic strength measured in a transient high-pressure phase of tin

Prime, Michael Bruce [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000240985620)Β·Brown, Justin L. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000304408719)Β·Fensin, Saryu Jindal [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000181355353)Β·Jones, David Robert [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000194664008)Β·Dyer, Joshua Wade [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0009000472137521)
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Abstract

This work reports two independent experimental estimations of the dynamic strength of the body-centered tetragonal (bct) 𝛾 phase of tin, which occurs at pressures above about 9 GPa and transforms promptly back to the ambient 𝛽 phase upon pressure release. Measuring strength in such a transient high-pressure phase is challenging. One measurement used free-surface Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities generated with gas gun impact. Another set of measurements used ramp-release loading in a pulsed-power facility. Strength estimations came from comparison to simulations using a comprehensive multiphase modeling framework that includes equation of state, shear moduli, and strength separately for each phase, and treats mixed-phase regions. Both experimental methods found the 𝛾-phase strength to be very low, within experimental uncertainty of zero. The existing literature on other materials, by contrast, almost universally reports higher strength in transient high-pressure phases compared with ambient phases. Recent Molecular-Dynamics simulations on tin in the literature showed almost zero deviatoric strength during a deformation-induced bct β†’ bct transformation in which one of the 𝛾-phase π‘Ž axes β€œflips” to the 𝑐 axis. This reorientation currently provides the most plausible explanation for the low observed strength in 𝛾-phase tin.

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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITYcompressive strengthdynamical phase transitionsshear deformationshock wavesvelocimetry

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Prime, Michael Bruce [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000240985620), Brown, Justin L. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000304408719), Fensin, Saryu Jindal [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000181355353), Jones, David Robert [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000194664008), Dyer, Joshua Wade [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0009000472137521). 2026-06-03. Vanishing dynamic strength measured in a transient high-pressure phase of tin. https://doi.org/10.1103/q5kp-5yj1

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