Impact-induced Jet Formation: Testing Platform

Jet penetrators have a unique damage interaction against targets and understanding and characterizing the response against certain materials is important to evaluate mitigation performance. Typical jet penetrators are created with a shaped charge explosive that is often inconsistent, not diagnostic friendly, and difficult to setup which makes it an undesirable evaluation platform. We developed a technique to generate a jet penetrator, like the one of a shaped charge, in a controlled light-gas-gun environment. This terminal ballistics platform allows control of a high velocity jet, inducing high strain rate and high pressure loading of a test article. We employed a 2-stage light-gas-gun to achieve jet velocities over 7 km/s with a millimeter diameter scale copper jet. The target is free of secondary impacts and compatible with close proximity diagnostics. We successfully tested the platform on different test specimens with high-speed-videography, flash x-ray imagery, and photon Doppler velocimetry. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the platform and compare them with other penetrator platforms. The design analysis for the impact-induced formation is presented in a companion set of work.