The Structure and Mechanical Properties of Shock-Loaded Steels

Abstract

Tensile tests and transmission electron microscopy have been used to investigate the relationship between mechanical properties and microstructure in three plain carbon steels shock-loaded to peak pressures between 100 and 250 kilobars. The most dramatic change in structures and properties occurs at pressures in excess of that required to induce the phase transformation α → ɛ → α. The value of this pressure depends on the original microstructure of the steel, so that an annealed low-carbon steel shows considerable transformation at 150 kilobars, while a normalized 0.99% C steel does not transform until the peak pressure exceeds 200 kilobars. Below the transformation pressure the low-carbon steel is strengthened by shock-loading, while this does not occur in the two high-carbon steels.