Ductile damage development at high temperatures in OFHC Cu under impacts

The symmetric Taylor Impact test is particularly useful for investigating the development of ductile damage processes under impact conditions characterized by high strain rates and dynamic pressures. While the mechanisms of damage nucleation in OFHC Cu under these conditions are well-studied, the effect of temperature on this process remains less understood. The purpose of this work is to investigate the role of temperature on the nucleation phase and damage growth under dynamic strain regime on commercially pure OFHC Cu for which the authors had previously determined the threshold velocity at which damage processes are activated at room temperature. For this, a novel experimental technique was developed to carry out rod-on-rod tests under different imposed velocity and temperature conditions. To this purpose two independent induction heating devices have been used to heat up, controlling the temperature, both the flyer and received cylinders in a single stage light gas gun. All tests were performed in a vaccum chamber. Damage quantification has been performed on soft recovered samples and the velocity necessary for damage nucleation as a function of temperature has been determined.