Copper Shock Hugoniot Benchmark Measurements on a Single-Stage Gas Gun

A 40-mm, single-stage gas gun capable of reaching projectile velocities up to 2.7 km/s and target pressures in the range of 50 GPa has recently been installed at the University of Nevada, Reno. The shock Hugoniot of four nines OFHC copper was measured to benchmark the experimental data generated by this gas gun and to test diagnostic capabilities. PDV was used to measure the Hugoniot elastic limit and spall strength of copper for comparison to existing data. The comparison between existing data and the data recorded on this gas gun will be presented.