APPLYING STEINBERG MODEL TO THE HUGONIOT ELASTIC LIMIT OF POROUS BORON-CARBIDE SPECIMENS

Plate-impact experiments were performed on boron carbide specimens, having different porosities, in order to measure their Hugoniot elastic limit (HEL) values. The measurements were performed with commercial manganin gauges embedded at the back surface of the specimen and backed by a thick Plexiglas disk. The measured values show an almost linear decrease in the HEL values between 194 kbar (For the fully dense material) to 96 kbar for a specimen with 16.3% porosity. These values were compared with a theoretical model [suggested by D. Steinberg (LLL report LLL-UCID-16946, 1975)] which accounts for the dependence of the HEL on porosity, and the agreement is shown to be good.