Summary of Isentropic Compression Experimentsperformed with High Explosive Pulsed Power

Abstract

One-dimensional isentropic compression experiments (ICE) have been performed over the last few years at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) using a High Explosive Pulsed Power (HEPP) system. Accurate, high pressure, isentropic Equations of State (EOS) data have been obtained for copper and tungsten. A number of important issues have been identified, such as: magnetic field (B-field) uniformity; sample-to-sample B-field uniformity; sample size constraints; the maximum stress before shock-up; and accuracy. The results for tungsten show non-ideal elastic to plastic transition features, but an experimental isentrope that is close to theoretical values.