Nanocrystalline and nanostructured materials offer unique microstructure-dependent properties that are superior to coarse-grained materials. These materials have been shown to have very high hardness, strength, and wear resistance. However, most current methods of producing nanostructured materials in weapons-relevant materials create powdered metal that must be consolidated into bulk form to be useful. Conventional consolidation methods are not appropriate due to the need to maintain the nanocrystalline structure. This research investigated new ways of creating nanocrystalline material, new methods of consolidating nanocrystalline material, and an analysis of these different methods of creation and consolidation to evaluate their applicability to mesoscale weapons applications where part features are often under 100 {micro}m wide and the material's microstructure must be very small to give homogeneous properties across the feature.
The dynamic compaction of sand was investigated experimentally and computationally to stresses of 1.8 GPa. Experiments have been performed in the powder's partial compaction regime at impact velocities of approximately 0.25, 0.5, and 0.75 km/s. The experiments utilized multiple velocity interferometry probes on the rear surface of a stepped target for an accurate measurement of shock velocity, and an impedance matching technique was used to deduce the shock Hugoniot state. Wave profiles were further examined for estimates of reshock states. Experimental results were used to fit parameters to the P-Lambda model for porous materials. For simple 1-D simulations, the P-Lambda model seems to capture some of the physics behind the compaction process very well, typically predicting the Hugoniot state to within 3%.
