Dynamic behavior of PMMA under planar shock conditions

Abstract As a non-metallic low wave impedance material, PMMA has been widely used in experiments of blast and shock. But the dynamic performances of different kinds of PMMA vary greatly. In this paper, the plane shock-wave experiments were performed with a 57 mm bore single-stage light gas gun in order to determine the dynamic behavior of PMMA at stress levels between 0.4 and 3.8 GPa. The particle velocity and shock wave velocity were measured with electromagnetic particle velocity sensors embedded into the samples directly, and the velocity of the flyer was measured with a laser velocity measuring system. The typical wave forms of particle velocity and the Hugoniot data of the experiments were presented in this paper. The dynamic stress–strain relations of experiments at different pressure ranges were obtained by the Lagrangian analysis method based on one dimensional strain, and the loading and unloading characteristics of which were discussed.