Influence of free surface nanorelief on the rear spallation threshold: Molecular-dynamics investigation

AE Mayer and AA Ebel, JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS, 120, 165903 (2016).

DOI: 10.1063/1.4966555

By means of molecular dynamics simulation, we investigate the interaction of picosecond-duration compression pulses excited by a flat impactor with flat and nano-structured rear surfaces of copper and aluminum samples. It is shown that protrusions on the rear surface can increase the threshold value of the impact velocity, leading to spallation. As the shock wave reaches the perturbed rear surface, an unloading on the lateral surfaces of the protrusions begins; it leads to an intensive plastic deformation in the surface layer of metal. A part of the compression pulse energy is spent on the plastic deformation that restricts the rarefaction wave amplitude and suppresses the spall fracture. An increase in threshold velocity can be observed for all investigated thicknesses of the targets. The increase is substantial with respect to comparability between the protrusion height and the compression pulse width (the impactor thickness). Another condition is the ratio of the protrusion cross-section to the total surface area, which should be neither small nor large-approximately 0.3-0.4 for the best case. At high protrusion heights (higher than the compression pulse width), as well as at large protrusion cross sections, instability develops on the rear surface of the target and is accompanied by mass ejection. The instability violates the rear surface integrity and restricts the threshold velocity, although the loss of integrity in this case goes through mass ejection, not spallation. Published by AIP Publishing.

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