Three-dimensional characterization of incipiently spalled tantalum

• Published in: Metallurgical and materials transactions. A, Physical metallurgy and materials science Physical metallurgy and materials science, 2007-08, Vol.38 (8), p.1712-1721
• Main Authors: BINGERT, J. F, HENRIE, B. L, WORTHINGTON, D. L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Data analysis; Exact sciences and technology; Grain size; Metals. Metallurgy; Microstructure; Stress state; Studies
• ISSN: 1073-5623; 1543-1940
• DOI: 10.1007/s11661-007-9216-4

Three-dimensional (3-D) characterization techniques have been applied to quantitatively assess shock-induced damage in an incipiently spalled tantalum plate. A significant sample volume was imaged and volumetrically reconstructed via serial sectioning techniques. An analysis of segmented void damage revealed distributions regarding void size, morphology, spatial variations, and nearest-neighbor distances (NNDs). The latter two distributions highlight the necessity of 3-D data sets to capture the feature statistics. Very limited correlation was observed between void size and clustering tendency. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) was applied to investigate spatial relationships between the damage features and the relative levels of induced plasticity. Large variations in microstructural character were found between different intervoid regions, independent of ligament width. The use of intragranular misorientation deviation (IMD) maps in two and three dimensions reveals surprisingly contiguous and complex plastic linkages not obviously predicted from the void-dominated damage field. Overall, 3-D characterization of shock-damaged material is shown to provide statistics and insight regarding the true damage field unobtainable from two-dimensional (2-D) data sets, and will provide meaningfully improved data for predictive damage models. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]