Contrasting the Microstructural and Mechanical Response to Shock Loading of Cold-Rolled Copper with Annealed Copper

The response of copper to shock loading and cold working is well documented. Both shock loaded and cold-worked annealed copper display a high dislocation density and increased yield strength. However, as of yet no work has been carried out on the microstructure of shock-loaded cold-worked copper. Both annealed and cold-worked copper have been tested using a gas gun to ascertain the effect of shock loading on cold-worked copper. The annealed copper was loaded to a peak pressure of 5 GPa and the cold-worked copper was loaded to peak pressures of 6 and 10 GPa. It was found that the shock-loaded cold-worked copper had a higher hardness than the shock-loaded annealed copper and that the hardness of the cold-worked copper increased with peak shock pressure. Each specimen analyzed displayed different variations on the classic shocked copper microstructure, which was ascribed to the different momentum trapping apparatus used.