Elastic-Plastic Behavior of U6Nb under Ramp Wave Loading

When uranium‐niobium (6 wt.%) alloy is shock loaded, the expected elastic precursor is absent. A prior model attributed this absence to shear‐induced twinning and the concomitant shear stress reduction that prevented the shocked material from reaching the plastic yield point. In the present study, carefully prepared U6Nb was subjected to shock loading to verify the adequacy of the prior model. Other samples were loaded with a ramp pressure pulse with strain rate large enough so that significant twinning would not occur during the experiment. Backward integration analyses of these latter experiments’ back surface motion give stress‐strain loading paths in U6Nb that suggest ordinary elastic‐plastic flow. Some of the U6Nb was pre‐strained by cold rolling in an effort to further ensure that twinning did not affect wave propagation. Shock and ramp loadings yielded similar results to the baseline material except, as expected, they are consistent with a higher yield stress and twinning shear stress threshold.