Spallation as an effect of laser-induced shock waves

Spallation resulting from laser-driven shock waves in metallic foils was investigated and the various stages of material failure were identified. The very high strain rate (107sec−1 ) characteristic of these experiments sets our results apart from those obtained by high explosives or hypervelocity impact. Numerical hydrodynamic simulations of the phenomenon were developed and are shown to be in qualitative agreement with the experimental results.