Shock induced multi-mode damage in depleted Uranium

Abstract
Recent dynamic damage studies on depleted uranium samples have revealed mixed mode failure mechanisms leading to incipient cracking as well as ductile failure processes. Results show that delamination of inclusions upon compression may provide nucleation sites for damage initiation in the form of crack tip production. However, under tension the material propagates cracks in a mixed shear localization and mode-I ductile tearing and cracking. Cracks tips appear to link up through regions of severe, shear dominated plastic flow. Shock recovery experiments were conducted on a 50 mm single stage light gas gun. Serial metallographic sectioning was conducted on the recovered samples to characterize the bulk response of the sample. Experiments show delaminated inclusions due to uniaxial compression without damage propagation. Further results show the propagation of the damage through tensile loading to the incipient state, illustrating ductile processes coupled with mixed mode-I tensile ductile tearing, shear localization, and mode-I cracking in depleted uranium.