The effect of cracks and voids on the dynamic yield of RDX single crystals

To further understand the deformation mechanisms associated with the dynamic yield point and shock initiation of single crystals of explosives, shock wave loading experiments were performed on oriented crystals of RDX at impact stresses of approximately 1GPa. Defect content in the crystals and the surface polishing technique were varied and the resulting materials were characterized by optical microscopy. In previous experiments on (100) oriented crystals, multiple loading inflections in the proximity of the dynamic yield point were thought to be due to cracks introduced during experiment assembly. Experiments were performed to try to reproduce these features on other crystal orientations by deliberately inducing cracks and/or choosing crystals with voids. Previously observed inflections in the proximity of the dynamic yield point can be interpreted as discrete yielding events potentially caused by one or more defects that eventually lead to a disperse elastic-plastic transition as observed in randomly oriented powders or perhaps sufficiently defective single crystals. The intent of this effort is to understand the effects of orientation dependent crystal plasticity and large defects, such as surface finish, cracks, and voids, on dynamic deformation separately so that the efficiencies and importance of deformation mechanisms in the initiation process can begin to be delineated for energetic molecular single crystals.