Shock Hugoniot measurements on Ta to 0. 78 TPa

Symmetric impact shock Hugoniot measurements have been made on Ta with an electrically exploded foil gun system. The results obtained to date for the Hugoniot of Ta cover the range 0.19 to 0.78 TPa (impact velocities from 4.0 to 9.7 km/s) and agree with data obtained by other researchers to within 2.7% rms. Recent improvements in the system include electromagnetic shielding of impactor and target, continuous measurement of impactor velocity with a Fabry-Perot interferometer and computer-aided analysis of shot film. Conservative extrapolation from current operating conditions indicate that pressures of 1.1 to 1.5 TPa could be achieved with little difficulty.