Shock compression behavior of additively manufactured highly solids loaded polymer composites

Additively manufactured highly solids loading polymer composites (HiSoLPCs) were impacted via plate-on-plate impact experiments in order to study the influence of heterogeneities on the shock response. HiSoLPCs have heterogeneities ranging from mesoscale features such as particles, interfaces, and voids to macroscale features like a hierarchical structure. Previous work has shown the dispersive and dissipative effect of particles and voids on shock waves propagating through polymer composites, but do not explore the effect of multiple particles with different material properties. Additionally, the influence of a hierarchical AM microstructure in polymer composites has not been studied under shock compression previously. Plate impact experiments with varying impact velocities, sample orientations and number of AM layers (thicknesses) are explored. EOS data (particle and shock velocities) and shock profile data (rise times and wave profile shape) are collected, in addition to novel optomechanical sensors to quantify the presence of multiple pressures in the same sample. CTH simulations utilizing real microstructures with mesoscale resolution are run to explore the in-material behavior. The experimental and CTH results are discussed in how the influence of particles; voids; multiple, heterogeneous particles; and the hierarchical structure affect the shock compression response with comparisons to other relevant composite material systems from the literature.