Hugoniot measurements of preheated aluminum nitride powder

We have attempted to measure the Hugoniot curves for aluminum nitride powder preheated to 500 and 1000/sup 0/C in order to quantitatively assess the effects of initial temperature on the dynamic compaction of this powder. Data indicate that preheating to 500/sup 0/C enhances final densities by only 6 to 8%. Experiments at 1000/sup 0/C, hampered by repeated failures of the diagnostics, yielded only a single datum. This falls within the scatter of data at 500/sup 0/C, and we conclude that our experiments are not of sufficient precision to determine the effects of powder preheating to temperatures of 1000/sup 0/C or greater.